


Watch The Eyes

by finallyaniguana



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: DJWifi, Daminette, Lila salt, MariBat, Soulmate AU, adrigami
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-18 04:00:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 55,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21771403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/finallyaniguana/pseuds/finallyaniguana
Summary: A soulmate au between two superheroes across the atlantic. ones a very angry boy with a history of assassins and the other is the embodiment of sunshine with a history of baking. they make it work, but first they gotta find each other.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, Ivan Bruel/Mylène Haprèle, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 503
Kudos: 3634





	1. Gotham City. 6 am EST

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own any of the recognizable characters, im not that creative  
> my first fic also posted and regularly updated (to the best of my abilities) on tumblr, user name finallyaniguana

Grayson had just returned from an all night stake out with Bruce. It being a school night, Bruce set aside Damian’s need to be out in the field for mandatory rest. He even went so far as to have Pennyworth check on him from time to time to ensure he had stayed where he belonged. Which Damian resented. He wasn’t like Drake who didn’t know how to sleep anymore and drank so much coffee his blood was probably sixty percent coffee rather than water. He was sixteen years old. He could handle a few late nights.

Still, his father did not relent, deciding instead to have Nightwing as his second set of senses.

So Damian was down in the cave, bright and early that morning, pressing his eldest sibling for information he missed while he was meant to be sleeping.

“B doesn’t want you on this one, Damian,” he reminded, shaking his head. “Focus on school for a bit. You’ll get back out there this weekend.”

Damian’s frown deepened.

“I could be doing something much more important with my time, Grayson.”

Dick sighed, “Gotta go to school, Baby Bird.”

His frown’s intensity grew even further at the silly nickname. Still, he knew his brother was right. If nothing else he had to keep face. He couldn’t let his father down by putting suspicion on the Wayne’s with frequent truancy.

Once, Dick would have expected him to argue until he was blue in the face, but in the almost six years since he had left his mother he had changed. Grown.

Still quick to threats but sometimes you could almost swear he had jokes implied behind them. He was almost a kid. Even if he never really had a the chance to be a kid.

Every day he cursed Damian’s mother for taking those ten years away from him.

“Tell you what,” Dick began.

Damian looked up, emerald eyes glinting.

“How about we go a few rounds. Get it out of your system.”

The younger boy’s frown morphed into a wicked grin.

“Are you sure about that Grayson?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah. I’m gonna win this one, Baby Bird,” he said, walking to the sparring mat.

“You can’t.”

Dick quirked an eyebrow under the mask he was still wearing. “Oh?”

“I’m well rested.”

He couldn’t help it. He laughed.

“You’re on.”

*** fourteen minutes later ***

“Best three out of five.”


	2. Paris. 12 pm CET

Alya poked her sleeping neighbor. They were all eating lunch in the park today. It was rare that Mon. Agreste let out Adrien’s short leash for him to spend some time with his friends. The girl’s best friend blinked awake beside her.

“That time already?” she asked, blearily.

“It would feel longer if you stayed awake for it, girl,” Alya shook her head.

“Ugh, I can’t help it!” she said. “I was trying to get my latest commission done. I was so concentrated I got carried away and lost track of the time. Before I knew it, it was tomorrow!”

Marinette was a bad liar. She knew that. She hated lies and she hated when people fell for them. But this one was necessary to protect her identity. How could she tell Alya the real reason she was so tired is because she spent half the night chasing after an akumatized teen who got grounded for being out after curfew, only to break curfew again. As a supervillain.

The more often you tell a lie the easier it gets to tell it. It flowed easier and easier every time.  
At least she knew she wasn’t alone. Chat Noir was out there somewhere, just as tired. Well… not too far out there. Maybe even in the hallway.  
Nonetheless, she had plans and the world would stop turning before she cancelled them over a little fatigue. It’s not everyday Adrien gets a break.  
She also wanted to spend her sixteenth birthday with her friends.

Sixteen.

It was a big number for a lot of people.

Especially if they hadn’t yet found their soulmate. If something was going to appear, like writing on her skin or stripes of her soulmate’s hair color mixed into her own, it would happen today. That was assuming she was the younger of the two. It was always the younger person’s birthday that marked that milestone. Of course, not all people have such dramatic soulmate bonds. Some people actually have to meet to recognize their connection. Like Alya and Nino. Their bond wasn’t outwardly visible. But to them it was quite dramatic.

Before they made eye contact for the first time, their worlds were in shades of gray. 

There were so many different kinds of soul bonds. Possibilities were seemingly endless. Some bonds were more common than others. More than one couple in her class had started out their lives missing a color only to find it again in their soulmates eyes. Some are born with matching tattoos.  
Of course there were the sad few people who never find their “other half”. Some believe those people never had a match to begin with.  
‘But the world is so big,’ Marinette would think to herself.

She had no tattoos or missing colors. No eternal song playing in her head. She didn’t share their physical pain, though it was definitely better that way considering how many times she’s been thrown at a wall by an akuma. Today felt important. Like it might be her last chance.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Having finished packing up her untouched tablet, she stood to follow Alya out of the classroom.  
Glancing at the clock on the wall, Marinette took note of the time. 12:14. 

'Ten seconds to 12:15,’ she thought.

She stood for a few moments, wondering the significance of that seemingly random thought.

Alya cleared her throat. Marinette snapped to look at her, clock forgotten.

“C'mon. Adrien and Nino are waitin-”

The world went dark.


	3. Gotham City. 6:15 am EST

She was in a fight. That much she could gather. The unfamiliar surroundings certainly threw her off. But she was Ladybug. Who would she be without her amazing talent at improvisation. Coupled with the new surroundings was a man she swore she knew from somewhere, with his black and blue suit and domino mask. But that was irrelevant given his poised aggressive stance. He seemed to be waiting for her attack.

She didn’t attack right away, however, and not just because she had to gather intel before striking.

“Just go along with it.”

It felt like the universe wanted her to observe not question, and who was she to ignore that notion? Whatever was about to happen was important.  
“Aw, c'mon Baby Bird. I thought you wanted a rematch,” he taunted. “Best three out of five?”

‘English,’ she noted. ’American; US most likely. Possibly Canada.’

If the suit was any indication, it would seem like he’s a hero of some sort. She didn’t fully rule out villain just yet.

'This must be a friendly spar,’ she finally decided.

So, with all the Ladybug grace and confidence she could muster untransformed, she struck.

He followed her movement with surprise, as though expecting something else. The man in blue quickly recovered, dodging out if the way of her assault.  
She backed up and reanalyzed the situation.

Her fantastic skills in observation are what got her as far as it has as Ladybug. It was no surprise when she noticed a loose corner in the sparring mat. It created a little gap a foot away from his solid footing. He was taller so she would have to get in close to make this work.

Marinette took a quick step forward and then kicked up as high as she could at his shoulder.

'Am I wearing… pajamas?’

The blow didn’t land and she didn’t allow herself to become distracted by her wardrobe as much as she would like to. Her opponent took a step back when he avoided her foot. His foot, however did land. Right into the gap in the mat. It threw off his balance just enough that she could drop low and sweep her foot into his ankles. He hit the ground hard.

The look of shock on his face made way to disbelief before finally settling on confusion. 

“You been taking lessons with Timmy, there, kiddo?” he questioned, popping up from the floor.

Marinette cocked her head in confusion.

“Timmy?” she said, before clapping a hand she suddenly realized was not hers over a mouth that also didn’t belong to her.

The man in the mask rolled his eyes.

“Sorry. Drake.” he corrected himself.

She just started at him, for the first time uncertain how to proceed.

His forehead suddenly wrinkled. He pulled off a glove and reached out to grab her shoulder. She could see the weird look on his face despite the mask.  
“Are you wearing contacts?” he asked, almost amused. “Wow, you’re finally one of us!”

She leaned away from his reaching hand. It was only now starting to hit her at how strange this situation was. One minute she was in France about to celebrate her sixteenth birthday and the next she was fighting a stranger… in a cave?! Yeah, cave was definitely the right word. Maybe this was the sign she had been watching out for all day. Far more dramatic if she was being honest.

Distracted, she turned away from him and looked around.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“… yes?”

“That doesn’t sound like the truth. No, for real, what’s up?” he persisted.

Taking in the huge space around her she noticed several vehicles, an enormous computer monitor, and a life sized tyrannosaurus rex to name a few things.

What?

She spun on her heel to face him again, flashing what she hoped was a convincing smile.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Marinette insisted.

He straightened up and gave a shrug.

“If you’re sure-” 

“I’m sure,” she interrupted with a nod and another smile.

“Then you should go and get ready for school.”

She stood taller.

“Yes of course. Good match.”

Once again turning away from him, she took a quick glance around again, looking for the exit. Starting towards the direction that looked promising. She could feel the hero’s gaze on her back.

The digital clock in the dash under the computer said ten seconds to 6:30 am.

The world went black for the second time that day.


	4. Paris. 12:15 pm CET

“Just go along with it.”

It was almost like a whisper in his mind. He blinked a few times in the sunlight that hadn’t been there before. This… wasn’t the Batcave. Yes, he was certain of that.

Damien didnt have a soulmate bond as far as he knew. And it suited him. His mother and grandfather always taught him that soulmates were a distraction. A waste of time. He was glad he had no marks. No colors missing. He was free to move about his life unhindered by another person. His brothers, however, were unsatisfied with his lack of desire to have a soulmate. 

Tim had done so much research, looking for examples of all the soulmate bonds he could possibly have. Damian resisted all pushes in “her” direction. He chose to believe there was no one out there. It was easier that way. Easier for her.

When Tim presented his research Damian wanted so bad to throw it back in his face.

“I don’t want this, Drake.”

Tim squinted down at his younger brother.

“Why?”

“Soulmates are a distraction,” he stated, trying to turn and walk out.

“Damian.”

He turned again to glare at Tim.

“At least look at my research. I spent a lot of time on it,” more than annoyance at a waste of time implied in his tone.

He was imploring him to be open to connection. They fight a lot but Tim really wanted his brother to be happy.

Damian snatched the offered papers out of his hand, fully intending to leave them to sit on his bedroom desk. Before he could fully make it up the stairs, he felt a twinge of curiosity, followed by a profound emptiness.

That night he glanced over at the papers. The boy sighed and forced himself up begrudgingly.

He spent the whole night reading through them. Thousands of different kinds of soul bonds. Tim had barely even touched on the early outwardly presenting ones, knowing they were irrelevant to the situation. But the possibilities left over were still overwhelming to say the least.

One in particular Tim spent a good amount of time on. The mind switching bond.

In the year that the two would meet, on the younger persons birthday, they would switch minds for fifteen minutes. No warning. The only way for others to notice was the eyes. The eyes follow the mind, as common windows to the soul. Connected souls channel each other. One person may start to act like the other as the souls grow closer.

‘This one would prove dangerous,’ he thought. 'Most likely why Drake researched this one extensively.’

It was one of the more interesting and rare bonds. Only one or two couples in a generation ended up with these ones.

That’s why Damian had an advantage over his soulmate in this situation. He knew exactly what was going on.

A quick moment of mental deliberation and he followed the beckoning girl out the door. He didn’t say anything. If he could blend in, he could learn.  
She walked out of the classroom and down the stairs to two waiting boys, one with glasses and dark hair, one blond.

The blond one smiled at Damian. “Bon anniversaire!” He said.

Damian’s eyes widened as he realized he must be talking to him. Good thing he knew French.

“Oh! Thank you?” Damian resisted the urge to react to the voice spilling from his vocal chords.

High and sweet.

The other boy, who’s arm was now linked with the girl he had been following also offered birthday greetings, extending a fist.

“Happy birthday, dudette.”

When Damian didn’t return the fist bump, he tried to reemphasize it like he hadn't seen it. Realizing he should be playing along, he bumped his fist back.

“Alright! Since it’s your birthday, you will NOT be paying for your ice cream, okay? Don’t fight me on this, girl.”

“Um, okay.” Damian let out a nervous laugh. Why was he acting like this?

“I’m so glad my father let me come celebrate with you guys,” the one boy said, adjusting his white outer shirt.

“Me too, dude.”

'So it’s her birthday,’ Damian affirmed in his mind. 'Most definitely the mind switching bond, then.’

“Alright, Alya, lead the way,” her apparent boyfriend said.

'Alya. Noted.’

She tugged on his arm, giving a smiling glance back at her friend.

“No time to lose! Let’s go!”

She grabbed onto the blond boy who reflexively grabbed onto Damian. It took everything in him not to throw off his soulmates friend. They were moving fast. Barreling out of the school, Damian tried to glance back to see what its was called.

They were moving too fast for him to find the name on the outside of the building. 

He screwed up his face in annoyance. That was going to make it harder to find her. His mind came to a screeching halt. When had he decided he wanted to find her? 

Before he could fully figure out his sudden change of heart, they had arrived at the park, ice cream truck in the distance.

Damian reached to the purse by his soulmates hip. He had to check the time. He wasn’t positive of the time he had switched but it felt close to fifteen minutes ago. So focused on finding the phone, he missed the little red creature lying doll-like in the purse.

12:28

He mentally cursed. Less than two minutes left and he barely had any intel.

“Nino and I will get the ice creams. You two find us a place to sit. We’ll meet you there!” Alya wiggled her eyebrows before pulling Nino in the direction of the cart.

A few beats of silence passed, watching the two run off to get the treats.

“Okay, Bug, where do you want to sit?” the blond said, turning to Damian.

“Bug?” He said aloud.

The world went dark for the second time that day.

****Gotham 6:30 am EST****

When he came to he was suddenly stricken with a horrible realization. He was still in the Batcave.

His soulmate has been in the Batcave.

His soulmate knows.

Damian, now securely back in his own body, whipped around to where he remembered Grayson to have been standing. He was still there, watching him with an odd expression.

“Baby Bird?” He called out. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Blinking at his older brother he could feel his heartrate increase. Grayson is still wearing the mask. There's no way she wouldn’t recognize that.

Why was he reacting this way? He had been telling himself for literal years that he didn’t want or need a soulmate. This was just another reason not to find her. The only way he would ever be able to find her would be to reveal his father’s close kept secret. He couldn’t do that for a girl. His soulmate. Wouldn’t do that. Would he?

Grayson was still waiting for an answer. He chose his next words carefully.

“I-i need to go get ready for… school,” he forced out and turned back to the exit, wondering for a millisecond how his soulmate made it this far without Grayson figuring out something was wrong.

He dashed out of sight and back into the manor.

Where can he go? One look at him and anyone in his family would be able to tell something was very wrong. He needed time to figure something else. Reconvince himself to not think about soulmates. 'Soulmates are a distraction, soulmates are a distraction, soulmates are-’  
He almost made it to his room without running into anyone. Damn Tim and his bad timing. (Lol)

The elder of the two had a large cup of coffee in hand and dark bags under his eyes. In his other hand he had a tie, clearly getting ready to go to work at WE. One look at Damian’s face and his neutral expression crumpled into concern.

“Are you-” he didn’t get to finish.

Damian pushed past him and finished his the walk to his room at a sprint. Tim managed not to spill his coffee. He slammed the door behind him. Leaning against the door he tried to catch his breath. Unbeknownst to him, Tim was currently walking down the stairs to find anyone and everyone better equipped to deal with whatever Damian was freaking out about.

’Focus on something else,’ he told himself.

He shook himself out and meticulously packed away all his school belongings into his backpack. He changed out of his pajamas he had (and his soulmate???) had sparred in in exchange for his school’s uniform.

’She wasn’t wearing a uniform. No! Think about something else!’

He gathered his belongings and prepared to face his concerned brothers. They probably would have spoken to Alfred by this point. Another person to assuage concerns for.

Before he could even open the door there was a knock. Taking a deep breath, he called upon all his skills to mask his internal turmoil. Having created a blank face he intended to wear the rest of the day, he opened the door to find Alfred on the other side.

“Alfred.”

"Master Damian."


	5. Damian

They stared at each other for a moment.

“I will assume you’ve spoken to Grayson?”

“Ah, actually,” he corrected. “Master Tim came to me first.”

Damian closed his eyes, trying to hold in the panic. It had never been this hard to hide his emotions before.

“Well, I can assure you, Alfred, I am fine and would like to continue getting ready for school.”

Alfre nodded and stepped to the side so Damian could walk out of his room unobstructed. As he was walking out, Alfred cleared his throat.

“Forgetting something?”

His backpack. He was really off his game today.

He turned back into his room and picked it up.

“Yes. Thank you, Alfred,” he said before calmly walking down the corridor and down the stairs.

Alfred followed.

“Have you eaten yet, Master Damian?”

“No. I was… sparring with Grayson,” Damian revealed, sure Alfred already knew that.

“Would you like me to make you something?” Alfred asked.

He thought to all the panic roiling around in his stomach. He shook his head.

“Not today.”

Alfred said nothing in response. He just took it in. That’s what Damian appreciated about Alfred. He knew what to say and when to say nothing at all. He knew Damian would say what needed to be when it needed to be.

Alfred dropped him off at school with hardly a word from Damian. As calmly as he could, he went about his day, briefly greeting Jon as he passed him on the way to his first class.

Jon had transferred to Gotham a few years ago in a very obvious attempt to get Damian interested in team building, since it was easy for him to travel back and forth between Gotham and Metropolis. It hadn’t worked at first, but as Damian grew less harsh and the assassin training dulled, he allowed Jon to become his friend. He was one of the only people Damian actually spoke to at his school.

It wasn’t until lunch time that Jon was able to talk to Damian about his strange put off behavior.

“Did I do something wrong?” Jon asked.

Damian look up from the lunch he wasn't eating. He just stared at his friend. One of his only friends.

“No.”

Jon sat back in his chair, having been leaning forward to hear the batboy’s answer. Even if he didn’t need to since he had his father’s super hearing.

“Then what’s up? Don’t tell me you’re fine. You aren’t. Your heart beat has been crazy all day long,” Jon said.

“Stop listening to my heart beat. It’s weird!” he deflected.

Jon scowled at him, not taking the bait for reopening that argument.

“Tell me.”

“I… think I met my soulmate?” Damian tried.

Straight as a board, Jon sat up in his chair.

“No way, dude! That’s crazy! What’s she like? Is she pretty? What’s her name??” he practically yelled, drawing far too much interest of the students around them.

“Shhh! No, Jon, this isn’t a good thing!” he angrily whispered.

Blue eyes wide, he shook his head as though shaking away Damian’s words.

“… why?”

The people nearest were leaving in to hear Damian’s answer. It’s not everyday a billionaire's child finds their soulmate. It would be good gossip to the right buyer.

“Not here,” he admonished.

Jon slowly stood, raising his eyebrows when his friend remained seated.

“Are we going to talk about it?”

After a moment’s deliberation, he stood up, slinging his bag over his shoulder and followed him out of the cafeteria, lunch abandoned.  
They found themselves in an empty classroom. Jon faced him, expectantly. Damian wanted to be annoyed. He and his father shared that compassionate farm boy look that made you trust them enough to want to spill your guts.

“It may be easier if I show you Drake’s research,” Damian began.

Jon nodded and waited. Luckily Damian had remembered to stick the research on the mind switching bond in his bag before Alfred had come to check on him. Jon scanned the paper over. He looked back into his friends eyes.

“This… I’ve never even heard of this bond. You have this one?” Jon asked.

“Unfortunately, yes. It was this morning. Today is her birthday,” he confirmed.

“Okay… I still don’t understand why you’re upset about it. Does it have anything to do with how you think soulmates are a waste of time?”  
“No! No. I don’t think soul mates are a waste of time. I said they are a distraction. Personal connections are distractions,” he rushed out.

Jon looked a little taken aback.

“What about friendship?” he looked a little hurt.

Despite his rough upbringing, Damian has slowly become more and more attuned to the people around him. He could understand how his words may have fallen short of how he really meant them.

“Ah! No I mean… you’re the son of… well Superman. You don’t need me to protect you. My enemies don’t know you. They can’t use you against me. A soulmate… that’s… that’s different. She’s just… well, she’s a girl,” he tried, stumbling over his explanation. “Not a superhero.”

(He had no idea how wrong he was on that.)

He had been trying to deny he even cared all morning.

It was more that he didn’t want to allow himself to care. It was too dangerous.

He saw Jon’s expression soften. He was good with people. He could pick out hidden meanings in a way Damian couldn’t. Jon was subtle, Damian was blunt.

He nodded.

“But, okay, I understand that as a superhero. But what about as Damian Wayne? You’re thinking like a Bat when you should be thinking like a teenager. I don’t see any reason why you can’t try to find her now that you know she’s out there. You have connections that won’t take you through the underground. Your enemies won’t even know you’re looking for her.”

Damian’s head dropped into his hands. Jon was startled. He never acted like this. He was always so poised and refined. Whatever it was, it really mattered to him.

“You don’t understand,” he lamented. “I was in the Batcave this morning! I was sparring with Grayson after he had gotten back from patrol. There’s no way I could approach her now! How am I meant to explain how I know Nightwing without revealing all the family secrets? What if she hates me? I’ve never even met the girl and already I’ve scared her away,” he rambled on, the most sorrowful Jon had ever seen him.  
He was acting like a certain Parisian girl.

His mind raced a million miles a minute. That was a conundrum. He glanced back down at the paper in hand. ‘As the two souls grow closer, each individual may begin to act like the other person until they finally meet sometime in the year after the younger person’s birthday.’  
This must be how his soulmate would react in this situation. Damian would never freak out like this in front of him. That doesn’t mean he didn’t feel that way, however and something needed to be said.

“Maybe you should talk to your dad,” he suggested. “He may be able to help you out with the whole 'secret identities’ thing. He’s been doing this for quite some time.”

That seemed to have an effect.

The opposite effect of what he was hoping for.

“He’s going to be so mad,” Damian whispered, eyes glazed over staring into space.

“No! It’s not even your fault! You’ll figure this out. It’ll be fine. I mean, look at my mom and dad. She’s his soulmate and he told her the truth.” 

Damian took a deep breath to try and calm himself, clearly pulling on his assassin training. His spine straightened. Any other person would believe that the meltdown was over, but Jon could see that Damian’s real personality was filtering back in and over taking his soulmate’s. There was a raging storm underneath this forced calm.

“I will talk to my father about this later. Come on. We’re going to be late to class.” He turned and walked out, leaving a whiplashed Jon behind to sort out what just happened.


	6. Paris. 12:30 pm CET

Marinette blinked back to her own body utterly confused. Who was that? Why were they fighting? Why were they speaking English? (Again thanking the kwamis themselves for having taken English lessons for several years). Why were they in a CAVE? And what was with the masks?

Taking into account that she had now moved from the classroom to the park she adjusted quickly to her surroundings. Her phone was in her hand. The time was 12:30. Six hours later than the time zone she had just left. The Americas, clearly. But why?

Adrien stood next to her, looking at her expectantly.

“Bug?”

She looked at him.

“Yes?”

“We’re supposed to be picking out a spot to sit,” he reminded.

“Oh… of course.” She looked around and saw a vacant bench not too far away. “How about there, minou?” 

He smiled at the nickname. It had been a few months since the reveal. Their friendship had only grown. Adrien might even go so far as to say they were closer than he and Nino.

It was a tough conversation at first. His vision still clouded with his juvenile declarations of love. He came to realize he really did love her. And she loved him.

But not in the way he had been expecting. She was his platonic soulmate. Not everyone who has a romantic soulmate will have a platonic soulmate as well. Some people have one or the other. Adrien was lucky enough to have both. It manifests by a slight glow at contact after a strong friendship had been formed. 

He had been born with a tattoo tucked away on his shoulder blade.

He had mentioned it before and found his lady had no such mark. It nearly crushed him. But he got over it and realized that losing her completely would be far worse than never having the relationship he thought he wanted.

He grew up. He changed. Their partnership grew stronger.

The platonic bond is what gave him that final push to discovering her identity. He passed something to Marinette, skin fainting glowing from the brush.

He was surprised to say the least. He didn’t think he and Mari were that close.

When they finally revealed themselves he nearly cried with joy. The strong willed amazing girl in his class he so desperately wanted to be closer friends with was already his best friend. She seemed quite excited too.

She was ecstatic to find out the sweet boy in her class she used to hope was her soulmate was her best friend. She grew out of her crush a long time ago, especially after seeing how well he got along with a certain fencing partner.

He was her strongest ally against Lila’s manipulative lies. Without his support and backup, Marinette sometimes wasn’t sure she would have been able to face the classroom over and over and over again.

Her repeated threats had no effect since Adrien couldn’t be used against her.

The class was baffled at why Marinette would be so resistant to being Lila’s friend. She knew the Italian girl’s lies would pile up against her one of these days. She was, with Adrien’s help, quietly undermining the falsehoods spread to her classmates.

When Marinette took a frontal attack on Lila’s lie about her sprained wrist, in turn upsetting Max about the dangers of balled up napkins, Adrien had gone to Max after the fact and suggested he do more research on the statistics of people getting irreparable eye damage from paper. After just one quick search, he found out the truth, approaching Mari afterwards to apologize.

“I should have known you would never do anything that would put me in danger,” he quietly confided.

She smiled her bright smile.

“That’s okay, Max. I totally understand.”

She and his back and forth dynamic of coming in after Lila to do damage control for the easily disproven lies helped keep the class on her side, even if they were still quick to believe it in the first place.

The lies about her famous connections were a bit harder to disprove. How could she show that it wasn’t true if she didn’t know the celebrity themself.

Of course, having done many commissions for Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale, she had easy access to that proof. But she wasn’t Marinette. She was MDC. Nobody knew that but her three closest friends and her parents. She wasn’t trying to advertise that. She didn’t want to win popularity like Lila did. That’s why, even though that was the one she could easily fix, she didn’t.

The biggest beam in her support network sat down beside her on the bench she had picked out. She deliberated what to tell him for a moment before deciding to just say something. A few beats of silence passed.

“Adrien, the weirdest thing just happened,” she said suddenly.

He looked up at her, startled.

“What? But you haven’t moved,” he said.

“I swear on my Kwamii I was literally just somewhere else for the last fifteen minutes,” she looked over at him, wide eyed.

“You mean… like-”

Alya and Nino finally arrived with the ice cream.

“Your favorite!” Alya claimed, passing off a cone to the birthday girl.

“Here you go, dude,” Nino said, handing Adrien his.

They all looked at Marinette, smiling. It was an all around good moment. But the fifteen minutes of misplaced time would continue to trouble her. Adrien didn’t get a chance to bring it back up at lunch.

She had fifteen minutes of someone else’s memories. Throughout the rest of lunch and her remaining classes Marinette maintained an eerie calm. A calm that usually wouldn’t be there. Normally she would be freaking out. For some reason, she was inclined to figure this out for herself.

Arriving home that afternoon her parents greeted her warmly, letting her know they would be closing up shop a bit early and cooking her favorite for dinner that evening. She hummed her thanks before heading up to her room.

Sitting a her desk, she jogged her mouse to wake the monitor, home screen showing an image of her superhero family, smiling wide.  
Marinette clicked open the internet and put in a few key words.

‘Mind switching for fifteen minutes’

“Rare Mind Switching Soul Bond”

An article popped up. Her eyes widened and she opened it up.

She pulled a notebook towards herself, copying down all the important information.

• Younger person’s birthday in the year the two would meet  
• Fifteen minutes at a random time  
• Eyes follow the mind  
• Eyes are windows to the soul  
• As the souls grow closer, the two people begin to trade traits until they finally meet at some point during the year

This had to be it. She scrolled a bit further down but found the article ended there. There was very little data for this soul bond.

So all Marinette knew was that she was going to meet her soulmate this year. But there was no way of knowing when. But… she had submitted an essay to win a trip for her class. To Gotham City. Three weeks fully funded, Mlle. Bustier said. She put her heart and soul into that essay. For even a little while she wanted to get her classmates she cared so much about out of Paris. They deserved a break from the stresses of holding everything back. They deserved to feel their emotions.

It ended up being lengthy and it took her a good bit of time to perfect. But once she submitted it to the Wayne Enterprises educational class scholarship competition she felt incredibly proud of herself. Hopefully it would win her class the respite they needed.


	7. Paris

She hadn’t realized how long she had sat there considering the information she learned until her mother knocked on the underside of her trapdoor.

In the meantime of waiting for shock to kick in, she had been texting Adrien to fill her in on the fifteen minutes she’d missed. Apparently not much.

_** Minou: idk he didnt say anything ** _

_**Bug: honestly I didnt either. I mean how do you explain to a person you’ve never met that you are currently in their brothers body???** _

_**Minou: oh! Also your eyes changed color I think** _

**_Minou: I wasn’t sure because it changed back pretty quick after I noticed but yeah_ **

**_Bug: really?!? What color were they??_ **

**_Minou: they were green. Like mine but a bit darker_ **

**_Bug: omg_ **

**_Minou: what?!?_ **

**_Bug: Andre was right lol_ **

_**Minou:**_ 😹😹

Her mother called her name from the other side of the trapdoor.

“Coming, Maman!” she called, clicking off her computer power.

She took one glance back at the dark screen before turning to go enjoy her birthday dinner. She had to inform her parents.

Ten minutes later, all sitting together, Marinette broached the soulmate conversation.

Perhaps a bit more blunt that she meant.

“I’m going to meet my soulmate this year,” she stated simply.

Her papa almost choked. Her mother was a bit calmer.

“How do you know that?” she asked incredulously.

“Well… this afternoon, right before lunch, I was standing at my desk getting ready to go to the park with Alya and Adrien and Nino, you know? For my birthday! When all of a sudden my vision went black and when it came back a second later I was in a whole other place! And! It was six hours earlier. When I spoke I was talking in a boy’s voice. I was super confused and the guy I was talking to in the new building was worried about me -or I guess whoever I was supposed to be- because he -me- was acting different. Sooo, I was there for about fifteen minutes before the world went black again and I was back in Paris but I was now in the park which means I moved! Which means someone else was walking in my shoes. At first I was worried I was losing my mind but when I got home I looked it up. It’s an actual soul bond! Not a lot of people have it so there’s not too much information about it but it’s real I swear! That means I’m going to meet him at some point during this year,” she finished, breathless.

Her parents faces were shocked, absorbing the information their daughter had just spilled over.

“Marinette…” her father began.

She looked at him, worried about what he was going to say.

“That’s amazing! Tell me all about him! I want to know everything!” he gushed.

“Tom, calm down!” Sabine laughed at her husband’s antics.

Marinette visibly relaxed. She was worried for a moment her parents might not believe her. For years they had been concerned she may not have a soulmate. It’s always difficult for those people. It’s a very empty feeling. But now, at sixteen, finally evidence.

“Well, papa, I don’t know what he looks like, really. Because I was in his shoes. But I think he has an older brother? Black hair? I mean… it was only fifteen minutes so I didn’t really get to look around.”

She couldn’t help but think of the mask he wore. She knew there were other heroes out there… could her soulmate maybe know one? She would have to talk to the local superhero expert, Alya.

“Honey, didn’t you say the time was different?” her mother asked.

“Oh! Yes… I think so. I’m pretty sure it was 6:30 am when I left there and 12:30 pm when I got back,” the girl related.

“The United States, maybe?” Tom said.

Her mother nodded in agreement.

“The essay you wrote… wasn’t that trip to the US, Marinette?”

Her eyes widened in realization.

“I must win the contest then! If I’m going to meet my soul mate in the United States that must mean my essay won!” Marinette jumped up, stars in her eyes.

“Well we don’t know that for sure, sweetie. What if he comes here?” her father reminded.

Marinette sat back down, practically shaking with excitement. She knew her father was right but she had a feeling that she had the right the answer. How else would their paths cross?

“There must have been hundreds of kids who applied for this trip. We’ll just have to see, won’t we?" her maman smiled at her daughter.

~

# Gotham

Bruce sat at the computer in the Batcave. He pretended not to notice when his youngest slowly approached his chair. He knew from three separate sources that Damian was acting strangely that morning. If Damian hadn’t come to him by eleven that night he would have gone to see him. The emotional things weren’t his strong suit, but he’d be damned before he let whatever had rattled his usual straight demeanor son go unresolved.

"Father?”

Just from hearing his voice Bruce could immediately tell it was serious. There was significant hesitation. As though he would rather be doing anything and everything else right now.

He turned his chair around to face his son. Damian’s face was guarded. Nervous.

“Yes?” he asked.

He fiddled with the paper in his hand. It appeared to be a sheet of Tim’s research, judging by its meticulous organization. Damian followed his father’s gaze to the paper which he then slowly raised to hand to him. Bruce gently took it from his hand and began to read it through. Damian had a few additional notes written in the margins, listing out specific dangers of this apparent soulmate bond .

“Soul mate bond research,” he stated.

Looking up at Damian, “I thought you wanted nothing to do with soulmates.”

He squirmed uncomfortably under the Batman’s string gaze. Bruce had never seen him act like this.

“I fear…” he was choosing his words carefully. “ I may not have a choice, anymore.”

Bruce looked back down at the research in his hand. He lifted it up slightly in acknowledgment.

“Did… did this happen?” he asked gently.

Damian nodded, face newly steeled in his neutral angry expression.

“Would you like to find her?”

His mouth tightened. Something else was wrong other than finding a soulmate you always claimed you never wanted.

“I don’t think I can.”

He blinked in surprise.

“Because…?”

“I was in here when it happened.”

Bruce pulled in a sharp breath. Damian observed his father, worried he may be upset. This was, after all, a great breach of security.

“The universe is out to get us, I suppose,” Bruce said at last. “What were you doing?”

“Sparring with Nightwing,” Damian answered.

“In costume?” he asked.

The boy nodded his confirmation.

Bruce sighed a deep, bone tired sigh. He leaned back in his chair. He was silent for several moments, Damian’s apprehension growing.

 _‘This is it. I have failed-’_ Bruce cut off his train of thought suddenly.

“You know, I never meant for this to go as far as it did. I thought it would just be me for a few years tossing criminals into jail then moving on with my life. This is so much bigger than back then. I don’t want my secret keep you from being happy, Damian. I’m glad you told me. But I don’t want you to think your priority is keeping a secret I never wanted other people to keep in the first place. I’m certain the universe would have picked out a trustworthy soulmate for you. If you want, talk to the others about it. Make a plan. Maybe run it by Dick first, since she would have seen him. I know you’ve always said you don’t want a soulmate. But… if you really want to find this girl, you will have my support. Don’t hold yourself back on my account.”

Damian was shocked to say the least. He was expecting a lecture on security or something along those lines. Not… support?

“Just… let me know how you’d like to proceed. If at all.”

He stared at his father, still seated in his chair, before nodding slowly. He want to outright refuse to find this girl, but that emptiness he felt before started gnawing on him. He was filled with a desperation so unlike him, he would have thought he was facing psychic attack if he hadn’t also felt a feeling of rightness. Yes. He had to find her. Identity be damned.

“I’ll speak to Grayson.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when you realize halfway through transferring that you can keep the original format ugh


	8. Paris again

The next day at school was like every other. Marinette arrived only a few minutes before Mlle. Bustier took roll, breathing heavily.

Alya shook her head at her best friend.

“At least you’re on time,” she sighed.

On the other side of the room, Lila was spewing lies as usual. She had failed to make good on her promise to turned all Marinette’s against her, but she was still going strong with her tall tales.

“I really hope we win that trip to Gotham. It would mean so much to me! I have such good memories there,” Lila was saying.

“Oh, yeah? Do tell,” Alix requested, expression a careful neutral.

“Well… it’s a bit of a secret. But, I can trust you all, right?” Lila giggled. “Okay, I’ll let you in!”

Chloe was rolling her eyes next to Adrien. She caught his eye and shook her head.

That caught Marinette’s interest.

 _‘Is that secret that you’ve been lying to everyone and will now be moving to Gotham, never to be seen again?’_ she thought sarcastically.

“Bruce Wayne’s youngest son, Damian, is actually my soulmate,” she claimed.

Adrien raised his eyebrows incredulously from the front row. If she has a soulmate that's 'oh-so important to her’, then why has she been hanging all over him?

“We decided to wait until after we graduated to be together of course. So we could find ourselves before really turning to each other,” she went on.

Adrien slumped down. He may never be safe from her fawning.

Rose sighed, almost literal hearts in her eyes.

“That’s soooooooo romantic! How did you guys meet?” she begged to know.

Lila pretended to be resistant to sharing her little story before sitting up straighter, gaining energy from everyone’s attention like a sadistic leech.

“Well, when we were seven, my mother was stationed in the US. In Gotham. We met in the hotel lobby. While my mom and Mr. Wayne talked, of course he insisted I call him Bruce after, since we’re practically family now, I spent time with his son. When I looked into his eyes for the first time… it was like a whole new world opened up,” she forced a dreamy sigh.

Marinette had no idea how everyone was falling for this. She and Adrien made peripheral eye contact. He wiggled his eyebrows at her. She held back her laughter.

“I didn’t even realize I was missing a color, but now I know I will never look at blue the same way again.”

_'You would have never looked at blue in the first place.’_

Of course, Bruce Wayne kept a private household. No public pictures of the children still living with him. There was no way to prove that. Bruce Wayne had blue eyes and so did his first ward, Dick Grayson, judging by the tabloid pictures of the time (Marinette had done a bit of research on the family before even considering applying for this trip).

Mylene spoke next, “Do you have any pictures together? I bet you were so cute!”

Lila dramatically draped herself over the back of her bench.

“Sadly I can’t show you. We made an agreement not to share photos of each other. Wouldn’t want to paparazzi catching on, now would we?” she smiled, sugary sweet.

“You _have_ to tell us about him!” Rose interjected.

Lila turned back to the petite blonde before looking off into the distance like she was having a dramatic flashback.

_'I wonder if she’s visualizing the lie.’_

“He’s just soooo sweet and affectionate! He’s always holding my hand and writing me sweet notes and-”

At last Mlle. Bustier entered the room, saving Marinette and Adrien from busting their sides from holding in laughter and Chloe from yacking up her gourmet breakfast from the front row.

“Class!” she buzzed with excitement. “I have a very important announcement to make!”

The hum of small voices quieted.

“I know you’ve all been anxiously awaiting news about the Wayne scholarship trip application! I can finally tell you the winning class. Thanks to the hard work of our class president,” she gave Marinette a dazzling smile. “We have been selected to go on the trip to Gotham! We will be put up in a hotel, given a tour of Wayne Enterprises, and given an opportunity to sit in on Gotham Academy classes!”

The class practically exploded with sound. Alya grabbed her friends shoulder, shaking her.

“Girl! You did it! Oh my god, you did it!”

Marinette was practically glowing with praise over the next few hours.

After class that day everyone was congratulating her on her essay skills. Max even asked her for a copy to read on the plane. She happily told him she would print him a copy and bring it to him at the airport before their flight.

“Isn’t this wonderful, Lila? You can finally go back to Gotham! Ooooooh! Maybe your soulmate could take you out for a super romantic dinner!” Rose squealed.

Lila was hiding her pained look. She honestly hadn’t expected Marinette to win this competition. Now she just had to pray they didn’t run into the subject of her lies because that would send her delicate house of cards crashing down.

“Well, I’m just lucky to have a soulmate. I know there are some people out there,” she made eye contact with Marinette across the room. “that weren’t meant to have a match.”

Adrien scoffed next to her. He looked at Marinette with a slight annoyed look. He’d always hated it when Lila used that to try and make his Lady feel inferior. Marinette learned quickly to brush off the hurt after years of dealing with Chloe’s bullshit. Not that Chloe hadn’t made an effort. All it took was an ultra liar to see how bad it was to be a target.

Almost everyone in the class had a mark or some form of palpable sign that signified their other half was out there, if they hadn’t already met their soulmate. Marinette and Lila were the only two in the class that had no sign (that she knew of) at all. Until now. Her soulmate was out there. He might have a tendency to fight superheroes in caves at six in the morning… but he was hers. Whoever he was.

They were set to fly out in two weeks. Two stressful, jam packed weeks. Principle Damocles had been in to give them a presentation on what he expected behavior wise and to congratulate them. Mlle. Bustier had been in contact with the Wayne representative and he had sent them a list of things to bring and what not to bring. They also received a base schedule so parents would have a general idea of where their children were during the day. Despite the stress, the time flew by.

All the preparations were being made, belongings packed.

The main issue for Adrien and Marinette was figuring out to get back to Paris if the need arises. Akuma attacks had declined over the last few years so it would most likely be okay. But to be safe, the two heroes went to see the Guardian. He provided them the horse miraculous for quick travel if they needed to be in Paris quickly.

They argued for over a half of an hour trying to decide who would hold onto Kaalki while in Gotham. Eventually they decided that Ladybug should hold onto it since she had the best strategies if needed in a pinch.

All three of them thought it would be quite unlikely that Hawkmoth would attack Paris while they were away. He had severely limited his activity to almost once a month. They weren’t sure what the change was, but they were grateful nonetheless.

Everything was ready.

“Are you sure you have everything, sweetie?” her mother asked.

Her papa looked at her with admiration.

“I’m so proud of you, baby,” he gushed.

“Yes, I’m sure. I must have double checked like a million times. I have my luggage, my carry on with my sketchbook, my phone,” ’ _the horse miraculous,’_ “and Mlle. Bustier has the plane tickets. That should be everything.” She smiled at her parents.

“What about your dress base for the Wayne Gala?” her father reminded.

She lightly patted her red roller suitcase. She intended to buy fabrics in Gotham with her free time and finish it there. She was going to the gala in an MDC original, as was Alya. Marinette had already been making a gown for Alya to wear (and a tie and pocket square for Nino, if need be), just in case she was invited to any events due to her aspirations in reporting. She had also been intending to invite her best friend to the next event she attended with Jagged Stone. Marinette knew Alya would flip at the opportunity. She put the finishing touches on Alya’s floor length gown last week, spending the following week doing as much as possible for hers so it could be done in time for the Gala.

They handed off a box of macarons to her to share with her classmates before boarding the plane. She popped the lid. They were based off Gotham’s heroes. Her smiled tightened.

She thought back to her conversation with Alya.

“Alya. There are heroes in the US, right?” she asked, eyes serious and spine straight.

Her auburn hair whipped around and smacked herself in the face. She grinned really wide, not even noticing Marinette’s out of character demeanor.

“Yeah! A lot of the Justice League has home cities in the US. Superman in Metropolis, The Flash in Central City, Green Arrow in Starling City, Green Lantern in Coast City! And of course! Batman is Gotham’s Dark Knight. I could go on. What do you want to know?”

“Um…” she tried to broach the subject without being suspicious. “I saw a picture of a hero I didn’t recognize. So, I assumed you would be able to tell me who he was.”

Alya spread her hands out.

“You came to the right superhero fanatic! Show me.”

“Oh, well I didn’t save the photo… I saw it on a blog post on my desktop,” she lied, wincing, the strange standoffish energy fading.

“That’s okay. Describe him. I’m sure I can figure it out.”

Marinette thought back to the man she met through her soulmates perspective.

“Black hair I think. Black suit and domino mask. Blue symbol thing on his lightweight armor chest plate? Staff? Like Chat Noir’s I think… but not magic. His suit was built for agility not power,” she provided.

The blogger thought for a moment. Her eyes lit up as she fell on an answer.

“That sounds like Nightwing. No superpowers but still really good. One of Batman’s partners. Started out in Gotham but has been spotted pretty frequently in Blüdhaven. Were you doing more research on Gotham when you saw the picture?”

Nightwing…

“Are you sure, Alya?”

Her best friend smiled smugly at her. She whipped her phone out if her pocket and quickly typed something in. She flipped it around and showed her the search results. There he was.

“That’s definitely him! Nightwing…” she trailed off.

“Yeah, girl. I know my stuff,” Alya bragged.

“Okay, you said he was just one of Batman’s partners. He has more?”

Alya huffed and blew a piece of stray hair out of her face.

“So, this was all pretty hush hush since Batman’s clearly a very private person but there has been a couple different sidekicks and partners to cycle through, at least from what I can gather from different media sources. So there was the first Robin, then I think there was a second one… but… he fell off the radar. Since then there’s been two more Robin’s. You can tell because the costume changes every few years. There’s also a few Batgirls out there.”

“Okay… would you say any of them were… our age?” Marinette asked.

Alya looked at her friend, a strange smile on her face.

“The current Robin is probably pretty close. Why? You trying to talk to a superhero, girl?”

She back pedaled.

“No, no, no! I was just asking because of Ladybug and Chat Noir! So, they look our age! I just wanted to know if anyone in Gotham was too,” she managed to come up with.

Alya looked like she was about to continue questioning her about why she wanted to know.

“You sure do know a lot about superheroes… what do you do in your free time?” she tried for a humor redirection.

“Like you haven’t had an obsession before. *cough* Adrien *cough*,” she shot back.

“Um, no fair? I thought he was my soulmate so give me a break! And, in my defense he kind of is,” she pouted.

“Oh, please. You did not _think_ he was your soulmate. You _wanted_ him to be your soulmate. Big difference.”

She’d told Adrien about the switching, but not the circumstance. She had to figure out who he was before it got dangerous.

She shut the box again and smiled up at her parents.

“I’ll call every night,” she promised.

Just then, Adrien walked in. He was giving her a ride to the airport.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

“Yes! I’m ready!”

She kissed both her parents on the cheek before collecting the rest of her things and following Adrien out the door.

“I’ll text you when we’re boarding! I love you!”

They waved at her until she got into the car and drove away.


	9. The Gotham City Airport

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: so as it turns out there is not an extra day between Friday and Saturday. Its been so long since I wrote this chapter that i completely forgot to keep track of the days of the week so im bumping the schedule back a day (so the plane landed Sunday instead of Monday)

It had been a tense two weeks since Damian had spoken to Dick about what happened in the Batcave. If the situation wasn’t so serious, Damian would have laughed at his reaction.

“Wait, so you’re telling me I was sparring with your _soulmate_?”

Damian nodded grimly.

“Dude… no hesitation. She kicked my ass.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. _‘Wait… she won? She can fight?’_

“No, seriously. Whoever she is, she is fully prepared to deal with our family. Didn’t even ask what was going on. You gotta let me know when you find her. I want a rematch.”

While Dick was questioning his entire life, Damian was devising ways to attempt to find his soulmate. He was fairly certain she was in France by the language and time stamp, which he conveniently forgot to mention to Dick or anyone else for that matter. He also knew that she has friends named Alya and Nino. It wasn’t a lot to go on considering he had no idea where in France to start looking.

Alya was not a terribly common name, but being so young it was unlikely the girl had any press or accomplishments he would be able to search for. Since he didn’t know her last name, he couldn’t research her until he found his soulmate.

He hadn’t been able to catch the name of the school. Maybe because the girl, Alya, was dragging him too fast. Or maybe it was leftover resistance to having a bond like this. But it would spell trouble for his entire family if she came to Gotham looking for Nightwing. He had no idea what her character was like. She could be totally reckless. Better to find her first.

He started a campaign of research, sparing none of his free time. But his isolation was leading him into weariness. He was usually fairly introverted, meaning he got his energy by spending time alone, but something was pushing him to spend time with others. So, to keep up his spirits and energy, he went outside the manor for his training. Kor'i was very excited to see him back, the rest of the Titans surprised. He didn’t tell them about her, though. He wanted to keep that quiet.

He also went out of his way to spend more time with Jon, who was ecstatic that Damian had decided to find her.

“What made you change your mind?” Jon asked.

Damian sat in silence for a moment. His shoulders drooped and he exhaled.

“I don’t know. It feels right , I suppose.”

That was a good enough answer for Jon.

Despite not expecting any success, Damian searched up 'Alya France’ on his computer. The only thing that came up was a site called 'The Ladyblog’ which looked like a fansite about a superhero he’d never heard of. He scrolled through it for a bit before stopping on a video from about two years prior. He clicked it.

_“Don’t blink now, we’re live from Paris. Yo peeps! Alya here bringing you the one and only Ladyblog. *gasp* What is that? Ladybug in action! Hang on, we’re going for a ride.”_

The video continued to play in the background of Damian’s mind. It could _not_ be this easy. That was most definitely the girl he saw through his soulmate’s perspective. He had absolutely no idea what the girl was talking about though. Ladybug? Chat Noir? Surely if this was real he would have heard about it. No, it must be some sort of fiction project or something similar.

She lived in Paris. Next he had to figure out what school this girl went to so he could figure out his soulmate’s name. The textbook in Alya’s hand being his biggest lead to the school.

From there… he would make his final decision. They would meet sometime in the coming year, but he didn’t have to reveal himself since it was unlikely she would have figured out Nightwing’s secret identity by then. Even Tim, undoubtedly the greatest detective of all the Robins, would have taken far longer to figure it out had he not seen Dick perform at Haley’s a those years ago.

His mother would have told him to avoid the girl like the plague. Not even consider looking for her. She would only drag him down, add to the list of things that could be used against him. Make him go soft.

But his father? His brothers? They would say go for it. Even Batman, the ultimate loner, recognized the need to have connection. Thus starting his adopting spree that they are yet to be convinced has ended.

He’d trace that book to her school. Trace that book to her class. Trace that book to her. Unknowingly following a similar route to the Ladyblogger in front of him.

Tim sat in his office looking over the itinerary for the class that was visiting. Wayne Enterprises was sponsoring the entire trip.

• Dick was picking up the class from the airport and getting them to the hotel Sunday. Transportation had been secured for the whole trip.

• Dick was also to lead the tour of the building the first day, Monday. At least the public parts.

• Gotham High was accepting them the next few days, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday so the trip remained educational.

• A visit to the Gardens the next day, Saturday, a tour guide arranged.

• Back to Gotham High the next week, Monday through Friday. Tour of the Gotham museum of art Saturday.

• Gotham High again.

• Charity gala the last Saturday with a mention to the class president who wrote the winning essay. Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

He squinted at the name. There was something familiar about it.

'Pain is French for bread? That’s got to be it,’ he thought. He brushed it off. He had other work to accomplish.

Dick was to be meeting this class at the airport. As the tour guide, he was opening himself up to be the face of their entire trip. He would be accompanying them on all of their trips since Tim had work and Damian was in school (although some of the students were likely to end up in Damian’s class). He wasn’t sure if anyone would recognize him as Bruce Wayne’s first son. To be quite frank, he was hoping they wouldn’t. They were French so there was a good chance.

Dick was also on edge after having a discussion with Damian. He wholeheartedly supported him finding his soulmate. He seemed so desperate, bit in a quiet kind of way, even though for years he’s been saying he wanted nothing to do with her, whoever she is.

He had been acting strange for two weeks. Rambling on. Cautious where he used to be fearless. Less like the grandson of the demon and more like… well a kid. An anxious kid. It was refreshing, even if he knew it was most likely Damian’s soulmates personality peeking through Damian’s cracked veneer. He was also becoming more social which absolutely floored B when his son brought Jon home to hang out or when he actually volunteered to train in the Tower with the Titans. It was strange. But a good strange.

The kids pouring out of the luggage claim looked absolutely exhausted. A seven hour flight would do that to you. Despite that, Dick noticed the group had two focal points between which students bounced back and fourth. An taller Italian girl and a much shorter girl with black hair to her shoulder blades.

He had a sign that said François Dupont which he flipped up, the kids pooling into the center of the area. All the kids looked around awkwardly. The small girl with the black hair noticed him first. She turned to the redheaded teacher he hadn’t noticed before. Caline Bustier he remembered. When Caline looked towards him, she ushered the kids in his direction, smiling at the girl who pointed him out.

All the teens flocked around him. The teacher smiled and extended her hand. He shook it.

“Alright! Francois Dupont, yes? Forgive me if my French is a little bit shaky. I haven’t had too many occasions to speak it. My name is Richard. On behalf of Wayne Enterprises I welcome your class to Gotham!”

The kids all looked at each other with excitement.

“Now, if you’ll all follow me. There is a bus waiting to take you to your hotel,” Dick said brightly.

He beckoned them outside where a Coach bus was waiting. The luggage underneath, they were all ready to go.

“One more thing!” Dick announced.

They all looked at him. He held up a small digital camera.

“To prove to Mr. Wayne you all arrived safely. And for the contest webpage if that’s alright with you.”

He let Mlle. Bustier arrange the children so they could all be seen, she and Dick standing at either side of the group. The coach driver took the picture. The camera automatically downloaded all photos to his cell phone, so he was immediately able to send the picture to Bruce. That picture was from there sent to Tim who uploaded it to the contest webpage with the caption “The winning class!”

They all filed onto the bus. The Italian girl seemed to have priority over everyone else, or at least that’s how several of her classmates treated her. She went on first. Not before subtly knocking shoulders with the small girl. It didn’t seem friendly.

Since he had no details, there was little he could do unless whatever the situation was escalated under his watch. He decided to keep an eye on those two, just in case.

The teacher took roll once more. Satisfied that they had everyone, the bus started moving. After about forty five minutes, the bus rolled into the hotel parking lot. Dick stood first and went into the hotel.

He collected the room keys from the front desk while Mlle. Bustier handled getting everyone and everything off the coach.

He came back outside, passing off the thick envelope of key cards to the teacher, smiling brightly. She thanked him with her best English. Richard’s face lit up in surprise.

“Oh!” he said. “I was unaware you spoke English.”

Her expression grew slightly pained.

“Very little,” she admitted. In French she continued, voice low. “Although our class president speaks it fluently and at least one of my other students has claimed to speak English quite well.”

The word claimed was not lost on him. He chose not to address it at that time though. It was good to know that Miss. Dupain-Cheng spoke English, since she would be the one honored at the gala. He nodded to himself. Turning to the class he made an announcement.

“Names and room numbers are on the keys. Each of you should have one and may have them as a little keepsake at the end of your stay. As long as your teacher approves, I would have no issue with trading, and as long as everyone is okay with it.”

A murmur passed along the small crowd. He nodded and turned back to the teacher. He pulled their itinerary out of his bag and passed it to her.

“I will be meeting you here at 8:30 am sharp. Everything you need should be on this paper including my personal cell phone if there is an emergency. On behalf of Bruce Wayne and his company, I again welcome you to Gotham.”

When Dick finally arrived home, it was after Gotham High had let out. Meaning Damian was already home. He had been on edge for two weeks after his soul switching. Of course that spread to everyone in the house. Their identities would have to be comprised for this. But to see Damian happy… it might be worth it.

They had all discussed it and decided that Damian would find her and do some research, get to know her in costume, then decide if she could be trusted. Damian continued to give some weak protest over having a soulmate, but everyone could tell it was forced. He really seemed to want this.

'Speak of the devil,’ he thought as Damian appeared in the hall.

“Grayson.”

“Baby Bird,” he returned his brother’s attempt at a greeting.

Damian squinted at him.

“You’re home quite early,” he stated.

“Yes, I just got back from the hotel. I was picking up the class that B’s sponsoring. Remember the contest?” he asked.

Damian’s eyes widened with knowing.

“Oh, I was unaware that they would be arriving so soon,” he said.

Dick raised an eyebrow.

“You gotta pay attention, pal.”

His expression soured.

“I’ve been a little busy, Grayson.

The older of the two stood there, considering that defense. Under the circumstances of the last two weeks, he would cut him some slack.

"Well, some of them are going to be in your class starting Tuesday,” Dick informed him.

“Some of them?”

“Well, it would kind of be a lot to add all those kids to one class. So, the class is being split up into groups of two or three and sitting in on the different classes in your grade,” he explained.

Damian nodded thoughtfully before his face lit up with panic.

“I FORGOT I WAS SUPPOSED TO CALL JON ABOUT OUR GROUP PROJECT.”

He turned and ran up the stairs.

Alfred emerged from a room to his right.

“Master Dick. You’re back. Where did Master Damian run off to?” the butler asked.

Dick stared up the stairs where his brother had run. Dick had started to expect this odd behavior that Tim had claimed was being channeled from Damian’s soulmate. He shrugged. Another time then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the quote from the Ladyblog I used the English version of Pharoh, so if the translation isn’t quite what you’re expecting, that’s probably why. Also the mention to Tim seeing Dick at the circus was a reference to Knightfall. Takes place pretty close after Death in the Family. Tim is high up on my list of favs so I just wanted to throw some praise for him in here so… yay Tim!!  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed :)


	10. Parisians in Gotham

Marinette knew that Lila was determined to make this trip as bad as possible for her. She wasn’t sure which angle she was going for, so whatever it was, it put the heroes of Paris on edge. Everyone else may be blind to Lila’s shit, but at least her partner, Adrien, was on her side. She doesn’t know how she would have survived these last two years without him.

Mlle. Bustier handed out all the key cards, Marinette rooming with Alya, Juleka with Rose, Mylene with Alix, Sabrina with Chloe, and Lila in the necessary single.

 _‘That spells bad news for someone,’_ she thought.

Lila’s face morphed into a fake sad and scared look.

“Mlle. Bustier,” she started to blubber. “You put me by myself but I’m afraid of the dark. I don’t think I can stay in a strange room all by myself.”

Other than Marinette and Alix, all the girls faces took up a look of concern. Alya was the first to speak.

“Oh, Lila. That’s ok! I can switch with you, and you can share with…” she trailed off when she saw Marinette’s expression.

There was a few beats of silence. No one else offered their spot.

_'Oh, great. That someone is me.’_

“No, Alya, it’s fine. I’ll switch with Lila and you can room together,” Marinette sighed.

“Marinette, that’s so sweet of you!” Lila looked close to fake tears. She grabbed her and pulled her in for a hug, her finger tips purposely digging into the smaller girls shoulders. Lila hid her wicked smile in Marinette’s hair. It was a good thing Marinette was facing away from the others, as she couldn’t hide her face scrunching up with distaste at the sudden unwelcome hug.

First step, isolation, completed.

Lila pulled away just as quickly, not wanting to touch the girl she disliked so much for longer than she had to. After all, how else would she win everyone over but by pretending to love someone who didn’t even like her.

As much as this was a win for Lila, it was also a win for Marinette, the one who actually sacrificed for a girl she didn’t like. And everyone knew that she and Lila weren’t friends. That just supported Adrien’s “everyday Ladybug” phrase from Hero’s Day two years back. All the students on the class shot her smiles and grateful looks. Especially Alix, who has been onto Lila for quite some time. She elbowed Kim and he gave her a light shove back.

Mlle. Bustier sighed deeply. She had suspected for a long while that Lila disliked Marinette, but she hadn’t a clue why. Yes, Marinette had been quick to call her a liar at the beginning but nothing has really happened since. Plenty of time to improve their relationship. But teenage girls don’t work like that. Instead of voicing her long held opinion, she instead led the group of teens into the hotel and towards the floor they all had their rooms on.

The hotel was lovely even though it contained a startling amount of white. Especially considering, based on what Marinette has seen, how dark the city itself is. It was like the entire city was going though its emo phase at once. Nothing like Paris, the city of lights.

 _'Gotham could be the city of gargoyles,’_ she thought dryly.

Adrien sped up to walk beside her. He looked at her with a slight smile.

“Sorry you had to give up your room with Alya,” he spoke lowly. “I don’t think anyone else would have done it in your position.”

She shrugged.

“As class president I have to make sure everyone is taken care of, right?” she asked sarcastically.

Adrien snorted. He gave her a pat on the shoulder before falling back to walk with Nino to their room.

Marinette and Mlle. Bustier’s rooms formed a cap on either end of their group. Lila and Alya were two doors down from her while Adrien and Nino were three doors down across the hall.

Taking her luggage in her left hand, she unlocked her room and pushed the door open. It was nice, she decided. Not too much but definitely not modest. Mr. Wayne was a billionaire after all.

“Mari,” Alya called.

She poked her head back out her open door.

“I’ll come visit when I get settled?” she offered.

“Sounds great!” Marinette called back.

Closing the door behind her so Tikki could come out, Marinette took a few steps into her room for the next three weeks. There was a lot of white, like the lobby, accented with blue paintings and lampshades in an attempt to bring the room together. A nice closet where she immediately hung up Alya’s dress. She would pass it off to her best friend when she dropped by later. A bathtub with a glass door instead of a curtain. All around a decent room.

“That was nice of you to trade with Lila,” Tikki broke the silence.

“Well, I’m certain if I hadn’t she would have found a way to use it against me. You know how she is.”

Tikki floated over and landed on her holders shoulder while Marinette folded Nino’s pocket square. She would have made one for Adrien too, but his father had insisted he wear one if his designs to the gala. Less work for her, obviously, but it would have been nice for all her closest friends to be wearing something of hers.

“This is going to be a great trip, Marinette. I’m sure everyone will have a good time and it will all be thanks to you!” the tiny goddess praised.

She was filled with a warmth that only came when receiving compliments from someone who’s opinions genuinely matter. As she was unpacking her clothing, she allowed her mind to wander. Her soulmate was here. On this side of the Atlantic. In this city.

“Do you think I’m going to meet him here, Tikki?”

“Your soulmate?” she asked.

Marinette nodded.

“I think so. The timing feels right,” Tikki smiled to herself fondly.

“What?” she gave the kwamii a small poke.

Giggling, she shook her head.

“It’s nothing. It’s just I usually get taken up by a holder later in life. I don’t usually get to see a Ladybug actually meet her soulmate!”

Marinette considered that for a moment before looking at the kwamii, now floating in front of her.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. I’d don’t know what I’d do without you,” her warm expression slowly devolved into a pensive one.

“What’s wrong,” Tikki asked.

“He’s a Robin. A hero. He’ll have a secret identity. What if… what if we meet but he doesn’t want to see me? What if he doesn’t want me to know who he is?”

Tikki blinked, uncertain of how to respond.

“I guess you’ll just have to see,” she tried.

“And what about me? I’m a hero too. Am I able to just… trust him right off? And what about Adrien? What would I tell him about all this? I trust him more than anything, but, can I even tell him who my soulmate really is?”

Her nervous ramblings were cut off by a knock at the door, reminding Marinette that she had been putting off even telling Alya she had a soulmate for two weeks. She was most likely going to be mad for keeping a secret of this magnitude. _Especially_ since she told Adrien.

_'Well maybe she doesn’t need to know that I told Adrien.’_

Opening the door, her expression remained neutral, lacking her usual bright smile at the sight of her friend.

“Girl, thank you so much for compromising with Lila about the rooms. I promise I’ll make it up to you!” the auburn haired girl promised.

The smile slowly returned to Marinette’s face, brightening up the whole room.

“It was no big deal, Alya. I was happy to help. Oh! I have your dress ready,” she remembered.

She clasped her hands together and leaned forward, “Can I see?”

She swept Alya into the room, closing the door behind her. Reaching into the closet, she pulled out a completed floor length gown. It was orange. Not bright enough to be gaudy, but enough to draw attention to the person wearing it. It was sleeveless and high neck sewn with careful embroidery, MDC in careful script along the back of the collar.

The high neck was made up of a sweetheart neckline and a low back, covered over with a sheer chiffon connected to the collar. The hand sewn embroidery had a hidden motif of foxes playing concealed among the flowers and small crystals she had painstakingly added. You could only see them if you looked closely. Another layer of chiffon layered over the orange skirt to add to the swish. Enough Rena Rouge to make Nino smile, but not enough for anyone else to be suspicious.

Alya literally screamed.

“SHHHHH! Alya!” Marinette tried to shush her.

“You made this? Girl, it’s so beautiful! I can’t believe I get to wear an _MDC_ _Original_ to this gala!” Alya spun around.

Marinette shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“You’ve worn my stuff before.”

“But that was before! Now you’re a real fancy pants designer with a name and brand!” she gushed. “You are the BEST!”

Marinette carefully passed the dress over to her friend who immediately held it up and turned toward the mirror across from the closet. Her face had a grateful smile spreading across it.

“Thank you so much, Mari,” she whispered.

Marinette's return smile faded when she remembered the important conversation she was meant to have with her best friend.

“Alya, can you sit for a minute?” she asked quietly.

The blogger sobered at the shorter girl’s serious expression. She nodded and set the dress back in the closet to be collected when she left. Hopping up on Marinette’s bed, she patted the sheets beside her, inviting her to sit on her own bed. That did not garner a smile like it usually would have. And Marinette did not sit.

Standing in front of where Alya was now seated, looked her friend in the eyes.

“Two weeks ago I switched bodies with my soulmate.”

She paused, waiting for a reaction. Alya just sat there, eyes wide. Taking that as her cue to continue, Marinette kept going.

“I know from the language and time difference that he is from the Americas. I know that I will be meeting him at some point within the next year. All signs point to me meeting him in Gotham, much sooner than I had originally anticipated. But it could be anyone. I didn’t get to see his face. But I know for a fact he has seen yours. And Adrien’s and Nino’s.”

After she was through with her info dump, Alya just sat there for a moment, buffering. She blinked a few times to clear her thoughts.

“Two weeks… you mean your birthday? You’ve known you have a soulmate since your birthday and you didn’t tell me?” Alya asked.

Marinette winced.

“Yes. I have. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you… but I wanted to research and figure it out myself before I really told anyone else. It wasn’t my intent to shut you out purposefully.”

“Is that why you’ve been acting all weird? We haven’t hung out and you’ve been super serious since your birthday,” she accused.

She pressed her lips together.

“I believe so. From what I could gather on the bond, which frankly was not much, each person would begin to act more and more like their soulmate up until they meet. So… I guess there’s a boy out there spazzing over everything and tripping up the stairs.”

Alya held back a giggle. She was still mad. But not that mad. She was happy that her friend told her at all considering how stern and blunt she had been acting. Alya was afraid she had done something wrong to elicit this reaction out of the normally sweet girl. But apparently this was all her soulmate’s doing. He must be an interesting character.

“So… what’s the game plan?” she asked.

Smiling gratefully at her best friend, Marinette shrugged.

“I don’t know. I guess I was hoping he would find me. I don’t have a lot to go on about him. It was 6 am so I couldn’t see where he goes to school or who his friends are. And… I think he has a brother? But… I didn’t get a good look at his face,” she stumbled over her half truth.

It felt like less and less truth came out of her mouth every day.

“Well, what _do_ you have?” Alya twisted a piece of hair around her finger.

“Not much.” _'A nickname and a secret identity.’_

Alya squinted at her. “Well, that’s not productive.”

The young designer nodded.

“I know _,_ ” she said in English.

Alya was taken aback for a moment before remembering where they were. Of course her soulmate would speak English if they lived in Gotham. She nodded thoughtfully.

“I guess it’s a good thing one of us speaks English.”

“It’s a good thing my soulmate speaks French!” Mari shot back with a smirk.

Alya laughed before cutting off with a much darker look.

“Don’t think you’re off the hook for not telling me.”

Marinette nodded, sheepish.

The smile returned and Alya jumped up, startling her best friend. She ran to the closet and pulled out the dress again.

“Come on. I wanna show Nino!”

“Oh, I have a tie for him to match!” she went to say, but Alya was already out the door.

Marinette grabbed Nino’s gift as well as her room key before following Alya’s excited pace down the hall. She knocked loudly on the door. Adrien answered. He perked up when he saw that it was them, and was almost bouncing when he saw what was in Alya’s hands.

“Nino!” he called into the room.

“Yeah, dud- oh. Hey, dudettes!”

Alya gave Adrien a small poke to make him let her in. Marinette followed a few seconds later. She managed to lean in and inconspicuously whisper to her partner.

“If she says anything, act like you didn’t know.”

Adrien looked confused for a moment before realization dawned on his face. He nodded once. Meanwhile Alya was eagerly showing off her dress to her boyfriend, who was smiling along with her. He glanced over at the other two in the room. Catching his eye, Marinette held up his complementary tie and pocket square to go with Alya’s dress. His smile widened.

“Babe, look! We get to match.”

“Ooooooooh! Marinette, you are a goddess.”

Marinette laughed.


	11. Honesty to an Extent

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make yours too, Adrien,” she looked over at him, still standing in the doorway.

He clicked the door shut.

“That’s okay, Mari. You know how my père is. Can’t have the face of his company repping another designer. Especially one no one knows the identity of yet,” he winked.

Her face warmed with pride. She was making a name for MDC in the entertainment industry, mostly doing tour pieces here and there for Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale. Those outfits were starting to get recognition by designers wanting to recruit the new up and coming talent.

After she was done showing off Marinette’s hard work, Alya cleared her throat and looked at the designer meaningfully.

Marinette met her gaze, standing a little taller as if in challenge. Alya quirked an eyebrow, meaning the behavior did not go unnoticed. There was a solid ten seconds of staring before Nino cleared his throat too, trying to end the silent stand off.

Just as quiet as the stare down started, Marinette conceded, agreeing to share her news with the boys with a nod.

“I just recently found out I have a soulmate,” she said matter-of-factly.

If Nino had been drinking something, he would have choked. Adrien was rather convincing pretending he didn’t already know.

“What?! This is huge!” Nino exclaimed, excited for his childhood friend. “How did you find out?”

Alya glared down at her.

“On my birthday-”

Nino interrupted.

“But that was two weeks ago!”

Adrien shushed him, ignoring Alya’s squint, imploring Marinette to go on.

“I switched bodies with him.”

The boys thought for a second before Adrien spoke.

“I think I’ve heard of that… it’s super rare,” he said with the last of the awe summoned from the first time she told him.

“That would definitely explain why you don’t have any marks or anything. Wow. I can’t believe it, Mari. Congratulations,” Nino said.

“So,” Alya prompted. “What’s the next step to finding him?”

Marinette scrunched up her nose at Alya’s questioning. She sighed.

“Well, all the information I could find on this bond says I should meet them this year. I don’t have to go find him or anything like that,” she offered.

“Anything else?” she asked innocently.

“He does _not_ have blue eyes.” _‘They’re green.’_

Alya looked confused before frowning at her and raising her eyebrows.

Marinette sighed again.

“He is from the United States. So, I will most likely meet him here. In Gotham. Since, you know, I don’t have any other trips planned.”

Nino stood stock still, his eyes blown wide.

“So soon?” he croaked out.

Alya nodded with a wicked smile.

“Which means Marinette has to leave the hotel everyday looking like the absolute goddess she is! We are watching out for our girl these next few weeks. He is going to love her!” the reporter said with conviction.

Marinette was grateful to have such… passionate friends. But there was the whole “secret identity” issue to work past. That was something she hadn’t even told Adrien about. She didn’t want to betray his trust before she ever had it. There was no telling whether or not 'Robin’ would be accepting of her as an addition to his life. He wouldn’t be the first to reject their soulmate and probably not the last. It was always sad when that happened. She didn’t want that to be her, so she was going to do every she could to earn the vigilante’s trust.

“He should recognize any of you. It happened right before "we” all walked to the park,“ Marinette informed them.

"Hold up, hold up. We were with you? How did we not notice something was up?” Nino looked shocked.

“He must be a good actor?” Adrien supplied.

Nino looked as though his mind had been blown. Alya jumped up and down and started animatedly explaining her plan for success to the two boys. Marinette just sat shaking her head.

“There is a boy out there who knows all of our lovely faces except Marinette’s! Do _not_ let him go unnoticed!”

Their little group eventually parted ways after listening to nearly a half an hour of Alya instructing the two boys on how to watch out for her best friend to make sure her meeting with her soulmate was perfect. Unfortunately, neither Alya or Marinette could answer any of Nino’s questions; Alya, because she didn’t have the answers and Marinette because she was pretending to not have answers. Adrien elected to keep his mouth shut, lest Alya become suspicious of his extensive knowledge of this bond.

Back in the hallway, the taller of the two let out one last warning.

“If you don’t walk out of that room tomorrow in your absolute best. I am turning you around and picking for you.”

Marinette rolled her eyes.

“Please, Alya, I doubt I’m going to be meeting my soulmate on a tour of Wayne Enterprises,” she laughed.

“Better safe than sorry, babe. Goodnight!” Alya shut her door with a click.

MDC stared at the door her friend disappeared through, suddenly apprehensive knowing Lila was on the other side. She was probably going to ask about the dress. Alya shouldn’t say anything. She knew what secrets she was supposed to keep. But it still worried her. She unlocked her own door and disappeared through it, the hallway now quiet.

“I’m glad Alya wasn’t too mad at me, huh, Tikki,” she said at last.

“Of course she wouldn’t be too mad, Marinette! She’s your best friend!” Tikki said back encouragingly.

As she got ready for bed, she finished unpacking the rest of her things, including the unfinished skirt and bodice of her gala dress, which she carefully hung in the closet.

“Tikki… have you seen my phone charger?” Marinette asked.

The little goddess blinked at her before shaking her head. The teen then proceeded to drop her face into her hands.

“Of course,” she groaned around her fingers. “It’s already almost 11 o'clock, so I don’t think I’ll be able to borrow from Alya.”

Tikki flew over, patting her holder on the cheek.

“It’s official, Tikki,” she abandoned her face’s perch in her hands in favor of staring deadpan at the ceiling. “I’m the disaster.”

It was unclear to Tikki whether she should laugh or continue to comfort the girl. She did both.

“It’s not a big deal Marinette. We’ll just get one tomorrow. I over heard Mlle. Bustier and Richard saying there is room on the schedule to look around Gotham for a bit. The safer parts of Gotham of course!” she giggled.

Marinette smiled gratefully at the little fairy before finishing up her routine, save plugging in her phone. She did set an alarm though, in hopes that what little battery she had left would last through the night.

Marinette laid out an outfit she was sure Alya wouldn’t turn away. While packing, she had to resist the urge to pack much darker colors instead of her trademark pinks. She was going to tour Wayne Enterprises in a floral print grey skirt that ended a little above the knee paired with a soft pink sweater to match the flowers. She also set aside black tights and a pair of boot socks to complete it. Her comfortable black boots would be good for the amount of walking her class was sure to be going the next day. Nodding her head, satisfied, she turned her head to Tikki.

“What do you think? Good?”

Tikki smiled and nodded.

She laid it all out over the armchair in the corner. Stretching, she climbed under the covers of the full size bed. It was not near as comfortable as sleeping in her room, but it certainly exceeded expectations. She clicked off the bedside lamp she had been using.

Tikki settled down on the pillow next to the girl’s head.

“Goodnight, Marinette.”

“Goodnight, Tikki.”

That night, Marinette had difficulty sleeping. All she could do was stare at the ceiling, straight as a board, thinking. She was suddenly uncomfortable in her usual sprawled out position that she usually slept in. Her mind was going a million miles a minute, running through every possibility for error and coming up with a contingency plan for every one. At three am, frustrated and tired, Marinette got up, leaving Tikki sleeping soundly on her pillow. She slipped on her flats, grabbing her room key and sketchbook on the way to the door. If she wasn’t going to sleep, she might as well do something productive. Tiptoeing out into the hall, Marinette glanced around the dim passage.

The building was an eerie quiet. It reminded Marinette of the silence when an akuma is nowhere to be seen, but certainly nearby.

Perhaps it was because she was already tense about her soulmate, or maybe it was because she knew what lurked in Gotham’s dark.

_'You may not rest now, there are monsters nearby.’_

She snorted and rolled her eyes at the bad joke she made to herself.

She wasn’t dumb. In addition to her research on Bruce Wayne, the scholarship provider, she also tried to learn as much as she could about his city. Dangerous even during the daytime. Even more dangerous at night. Villains attacking every other day.

It used to be like that in Paris before Hawkmoth started taking fairly long breathers in between each attack.

The main difference was Gotham’s heroes didn’t have superpowers to protect them. No miraculous cure to bring back those caught up in the attack. If one of them lost their life out there… there was no coming back from it (presumably). That only increased her apprehension about meeting her elusive soulmate. Every day he put on a mask and jumped off a building. Being a vigilante is by no means safe. What if one day he goes out and never comes back and Marinette never gets the chance to meet him? She wasn’t sure she could handle that.

She was sure footed down the hall way, evenly stepping where she was sure she wouldn’t make any noise. The stealth was unexpected but involuntary, something in her encouraging her to blend into the shadows and not be seen. Her feet were moving of their own volition away from her room, no set course in mind. Marinette supposed she would wander the hotel until she found something of worth to bring out her creativity.

She found herself standing at a set of sliding glass doors leading to a balcony. Looking out, the city lights twinkling in the hazy blackness before her. No matter how creepy she thought Gotham looked in the day time, it was much worse at night. Beautiful in its own way but still creepy. But it was somehow refreshing to the unrelenting cheer and positivity The City of Lights instilled. Gotham had no such luxury and accepted as a whole its role in the world. It was a hub for crime.

Eyes unblinking, Marinette stared out over the city her soulmate lived in. Batman’s city. She opened her sketch book to a new page and began to put down her ideas. A charcoal grey suit sewn with metallic silver accents. Sharp lines made way into a flowing dress beside it, halter with a low cut v neckline. The skirt of the dress carefully stitched with gold and silver beads for stars in a wide scatter at the bottom, following a line up to one side of the halter strap growing closer and closer together the higher you went.

An unexpected light flashed ahead of her in the night. The sky was lit up with a powerful spot that could only mean one thing. Batman was needed. Marinette waited, completely still.

Far in the distance, she saw them. Bounding over rooftops as if someone would catch them if they fell. Of course it was too dark and much too far away to see who was out there. _He_ could be out there. A less observant person would have missed them all together, but after years of fighting akumas, she was adept at noticing the small things.

Suddenly overwhelmed, Marinette shut her sketchbook with a satisfying smack before turning on her heel and heading back down the hall the way she came. It was a wonder she hadn’t gotten herself lost. The hallways were even quieter than before, as though the walls themselves could witness her inner turmoil. She was hiding it well. All her emotions were carefully tucked away behind a neutral mask. Can’t show weakness.

Back in her own hallway, she was startled out of her stupor by a figure standing there. Lila.

Marinette had no idea how Lila knew she would be awake or walking around. She was just standing there, hands behind her back, lifting herself up on her toes then back down again. She had her hair tied up in a neat sock bun.

_'Ha. You look weird without your sausages.’_

“What is that supposed to mean?” Lila snarled.

“Oh, did I say that out loud? Terribly rude of me,” she gave the taller girl a tired smirk before attempting to walk on past her.

Lila put out her arms to prevent Mari from moving any further forward.

_'End this.’_

Marinette blinked that unexpected thought away. Aggression wasn’t the answer.

“Where were you, Mari, sweetie? I was worried you’d gotten kidnapped by a villain or something!”

“Ugh. You wish. Excuse me, I’d like to return to my room.”

Everything about this girl brought out the worst in the usually sweet designer.

“It really would be a shame if Mlle. Bustier found out her class president was wandering the halls at night. Come now, Marinette, you know that’s against the rules.”

She rolled her eyes at the weak threat. There wasn’t much Lila could do to her, but if she thought this would make her trip even a degree worse, she would do it.

“How would you know I was wandering the halls unless you were too?” she asked lightly.

The liar’s expression soured.

“You aren’t going to ruin this trip for me, so I’m going to give you one last chance. It wouldn’t hurt to just play along, would it? It’s not like you have any proof. It’s your word against mine and who would believe a nobody like you?” Lila taunted.

“Move.”

“How do you want to go down? As the worst class president in history? Worst friend in history? I can make that happen. Just keep up your little charade and it won’t be a problem.”

Marinette’s frown deepened.

“I’m not the one playing charades. You are. And you look ridiculous.”

Lila scoffed with disdain at the insult.

“I wouldn’t even bother getting up tomorrow. You and your little trashy designs aren’t going to impress anyone. That’s probably why you don’t have a soulmate. Nobody would be able to put up with your self righteous crap,” Lila sniffed.

Marinette stood straight, staring past the Italian and down the hallway. Her eyes narrowed the more she spoke.

“How much do you think it will take to make Alya hate you? Would you like to find out? I can start on that tomo-”

“Stop speaking.”

She looked into the girl’s contempt filled olive green eyes.

“I’m not some little girl who you can intimidate, Rossi. I would suggest backing off before you end up regretting your actions.”

She brushed past the girl, leaving her struck frozen in the hallway. She had no idea where that burst of angry confidence came from. She only hoped it would help and not hurt whatever came next.


	12. A Tour of Revelation

Dick was looking at his watch at quarter past eight, standing outside of the classes hotel. The bus was due to leave at 8:30 am for a tour of WE staring at 9:15 am. The manor was very quiet that morning. Usually Damian was up and ready to go talking to Alfred in the kitchen but he must have missed him.

Tim was business as usual though. Wandering zombie like towards the coffee pot. They had tried to get him to stop his incredible caffeine intake a few times and every time they realized just how inventive and sneaky he could be. Taking it directly out of his hand may lead to all the files being remotely deleted off your phone. Or just plain being punched in the neck (he was aiming for your face but he can’t see without that caffeine). He was very clever at getting what he wanted. No wonder Bruce trusted him to act as CEO despite his age.

But Dick was the most personable out of all of Bruce’s children. So here he was ready to lead this tour rather than an actual WE tour guide. It was important to Bruce that they be directly involved with the class they were sponsoring rather than just being a distant benefactor.

Not that Dick minded. He loved to spend time at home with his family and if that meant leading some teenagers around for a fee days, so be it.

He could see Caline in the lobby of the hotel, obviously waiting on the students to be finished with their complementary breakfast. They started to arrive in the lobby one after another some looking more awake than others. The Italian girl he remembered from yesterday was hanging tightly to the arm of a bespectacled girl with curly auburn hair. He saw that she looked a little worried. She suddenly turned to the one clinging to her arm. She said something he couldn’t hear and the girl released her. The girl turned and ran to the elevator, going up. About ten minutes later, she came back with a dark haired girl, looking a tad bit disheveled, but ready to go.

Satisfied that she had everyone, Mlle. Bustier waved an arm and directed the class outside. They all followed, the aformentioned girl reclaimed her position clinging to her friend, all but shoving the other out of the way.

Dick shook his head at the sight. He remembered high school.

Caline smiled at the sight of their tour guide waiting outside for them.

“Okay, Max, Alix, Kim, Lila, Nino, Adrien, Sabrina, Mylene, Chloe, Juleka, Ivan, Nathaniel, Rose, Alya and… oh, what happened to Marinette?” she frowned.

A few of the students looked around at each other. Clearly they didn’t see her. The blond boy looked like he was about to go back in to look for her when she made her appearance.

“Right here Mlle. Bustier! Sorry, I dropped my purse in the lobby,” she looked apologetic.

The teacher gave a small chuckle before finally facing Richard with a smile.

“That’s everyone!”

“Great! Now if we can all get on the bus, we’ll head over for our tour of Wayne Enterprises,” he said.

The students boarded, some more excited than others. Rose was bouncing in her seat. She and Juleka sat behind Lila and Alya. Lila was taking this time to fill the sweet girl’s head with more lies about her supposed influential soulmate. With continued glances over at Richard, she started her story.

“I was texting my dear Damian all night, so I’m so sorry if I fall asleep in the seat Alya!” Lila said sweetly.

“That’s okay! I can’t blame you for wanting to talk to your soulmate,” Alya assured.

“He invited me over tonight for dinner! I can’t wait to see him after all this time,” she stared dreamily out the window.

Marinette tried to hide her gag. Luckily only Alix noticed who in turn had to hide her smirk behind her fist. Kim, sitting next to Alix, noticed and gave her a sharp poke to the side, which of course started a poke war. Marinette rolled her eyes at her friend’s competitive nature.

“We may just have to forgo our deal to wait until we graduate. Thank you all for being so supportive of me,” Lila started to tear up, despite her dry eyes.

“I can’t believe you’re soulmates with Damian Wayne!” Rose exclaimed.

That got Dick’s attention. How would she have figured out his identity so quickly? He gave a small glance back at the girl who spoke. She was quite short with blonde hair and blue eyes. He gathered that Damian’s soulmate had blue eyes. But this girl wasn’t the one claiming the bond and she seemed pretty attached to the tall girl she was sitting next to. So Dick looked to the seat in front of her to the girl with the glasses and the one that was hanging on her. Neither of them had blue eyes. He turned back around, disappointed and hoping he wouldn’t have to confront the girl about her extravagant lie.

 _‘Would it be petty to call out a child?’_ he thought. _'She’ll be joining Damian’s year tomorrow. If I don’t say anything, he definitely will. Oo, maybe I should intervene before he does?’_

Dick ultimately decided to monitor quietly and unless she said something that put a bad light on anyone in his family, he wouldn’t say anything. He frowned to himself.

Finally the bus arrived at WE, pulling up to the side walk. He led everyone inside and checked in at the main desk, collecting a pass that would allow him to show the children different and more exclusive wings of the building. He brought up a bright smile he first directed at the teacher, who returned his smile, before turning and facing the teenagers in front of him. Their chatter died out slowly.

“I hope you all wore comfortable shoes for walking. At the end of the tour you will be given a pass for a complementary lunch. Alright! Let’s get started.”

Before Richard could even take the first step of the tour, his phone started to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and frowned. Eyes lighting up with recognition, he swiped to answer.

“Baby Bird?”

Marinette choked and whipped her head around to face the tour guide. She couldn’t hear what “Baby Bird” was saying but Richard looked absolutely bewildered before starting to smile.

“Sure, but why not ask Alfred?- How you getting there?- Okay, I’ll give them a call and let B know.”

He shook his head as he put his phone back in his pocket.

“Sorry everyone! My little brother woke up late this morning. I’m going to give his school a call real quick.”

He took a few steps away to make his call while Marinette strained to hear what he was saying over her pounding heart. When that failed she tried to read his lips. A skill she did not have.

 _'So they_ are _brothers. Wait, no. Come on, Marinette. What is the chance of it being that easy?’_

Marinette slumped down next to Adrien who tapped her shoulder, concerned.

She tried to give him a reassuring smile but she could tell it fell short. He gave her a suspicious smile in return.

Richard soon returned from his call and beckoned for them to follow him. From the lobby and ground floor, he told them about the history of the company. They got to learn a bit about Bruce Wayne’s parents and the branches of the company they were a big part of or that were dedicated in their names. It was all very interesting and normally Mari would be listening with rapt attention. But she was distracted, paying too much attention to the speaker himself than the words he was saying.

Eventually she had to stop denying the obvious. She didn’t spend more than fifteen minutes in Nightwing’s company. But he was unmistakable. The easy way he moved, the tone and timbre of his voice. This man fought crime at night. Their tour guide midnights as a vigilante. When she came to that conclusion, she spent the rest of the tour looking anywhere but his face.

_'Richard. Richard what?’_

It seemed her new goal of the day was to figure that out.

By the time they got to the cafeteria for lunch, Marinette had learned practically nothing about the Wayne building or the company. Her classmates were filing in past their guide who was passing off little slips of blue paper. She internally cringed. As she passed by and gingerly took her paper from his hands he said,

“Show these to the cashier after getting your food. Okay, everyone! I’ll be nearby if anyone has follow up questions. Don’t hesitate to ask.”

Adrien grabbed her shoulder lightly. She jumped and looked at her friend.

“Come on, let’s go get something to eat. I know you missed breakfast,” he smiled.

Her face flushed at the memory. Her phone decided enough was enough and died halfway through the night. So no alarm and Marinette did not have the forethought to schedule a wake up call the front desk. So she slept straight through Mlle. Bustier knocking on everyone’s doors due to her late night. It wasn’t until Alya finally arrived, banging on the door that she actually became aware of her surroundings. She had to rush to get ready, barely having time to brush her hair. She had to tie up her hair on the bus. It was good that she had laid out her outfit the night before or she would have been in an even worse time crunch.

They made their way through the line, following Nino’s footsteps, who was following Alya’s steps in turn. Once they had turned in their lunch tickets and sat down Marinette started to look around for their teacher. She was hoping Mlle. Bustier could tell her a bit more about Richard without being obvious. She finally spotted her over by the register, where she had just finished walking through the line. Marinette stood.

“Mari?”

She looked down at Adrien’s questioning eyes. Giving him a weak smile, she patted his shoulder.

“I’ll be right back.”

Mlle. Bustier chose to sit at the edge of the room so she could keep an eye on as many of her kids as possible. She saw Marinette coming and she lifted her face to greet the class president.

“Yes, Marinette? Do you need something?” she asked pleasantly.

“I just have a quick question?”

“Was _that_ a question?” Caline asked.

Marinette backpedaled and shook her head.

“No, no… that wasn’t it.”

“Okay, then what is it?”

“I was just wondering…” she trailed off, only continuing when the teacher raised an eyebrow at her deflective tone. “if you knew Monsieur Richard’s last name?”

Blinking in confusion, she stared at the girl standing before her. Eventually she shook her head.

“I met him at the same time you did. You’ll have to ask him.”

Marinette cursed mentally. Looks like if she wanted answers she’d have to be direct. Something she was not good at. (Something her soulmate was _very_ good at.)

“Well. Thank you anyway.” she looked back at the far table she left Adrien at.

He waved.

She did not wave back.

Instead she continued scanning the room for Richard. He was seated a few tables away from Lila’s little group. That was where Alya and Nino ended up as well, but her eyes just skipped over them in favor of the suspected vigilante.

A wave of calm confidence and what felt almost like anger came over her and she marched toward him. Lila noticed her walk and followed her gaze to the Wayne employee who was sitting next to a younger man, a laptop open in front of him. Her eyes narrowed imperceptibly.

When Marinette finally passed by, she loudly began to spin a new lie, or a continuation of an older lie. When the shorter girl kept walking, paying no attention to the liar, her eyes narrowed further. The girls sitting around her pleaded for her to keep talking so she did, putting Dupain-Cheng on the back burner.

Dick looked up, startled, when one of the girls from the tour group planted her feet right next to him at his table. Tim barely glanced over from his precious coffee.

He looked at her stony expression, kind of nervous. He had no idea what he did wrong.

“I have a question,” she said in English.

Her voice did not match her expression. It was soft and he got the impression she rarely had negative things to say. The French accent certainly helped her case.

“Yes, Miss…?”

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she supplied.

Tim finally decided to start paying attention.

“The class president?” he asked blearily.

“Oui- I mean, yes.”

Dick called back her attention with a head bob.

“What is your question?” he asked.

Tim leaned in a bit to hear over the din of the cafeteria. Her face steeled and her took a deep breath.

“What is your last name?”

He looked a bit reluctant to say, more surprised than anything else, but she did not waver.

“Grayson,” he said at last.

Her expression tinged with surprise before she nodded.

“The eldest,” was all she said before she thanked him with a sweetness that came out of nowhere and walking away.

“What was that about?” Tim asked around a sip of his coffee.

Dick gave a small shrug before looking down at his food. So she knew his name. He only hoped this revelation did not cause any waves of students suddenly excited to talk to him. He wasn’t that worried about it. He was used to attention because of the Wayne influence. But the girl did not gravitate toward the big group of students a few tables down. Instead she walked further down, sitting next to the blond boy who looked at her expectantly. She waved him off.

“Almost reminded you of someone right up until the end, wouldn’t you say?”

“What?” Dick looked at his younger brother.

Tim rolled his eyes and knocked back the rest of his drink.

“By the way, Damian’s soulmate must be a great influence on him already.”

“What makes you say that?”

“He said please. _Twice_.”

Tim stared down at his empty cup. A few beats of silence passed and he smiled like someone just let him in on an inside joke. He stood up quickly and Dick jolted with surprise.

“I have an idea,” Tim said before grabbing his laptop and heading out of the room.

Well okay then.


	13. He Overslept

It felt like he was laying under a lead blanket. There was no reason for him to be this tired. He almost never struggles to get up in the morning, no matter how late his night. He had to be able to function on little to no sleep when he was training with the League.

He cracked open his eyes to the ray of light that had woken him. Much higher in the sky than it should be. Once glance at the bedside clock had him shooting up in surprise and a touch of panic. It was nine o'clock. Class started an hour ago.

Cursing loudly, he rushed to put on his uniform, not bothering to tie his tie. He’d deal with that later. He grabbed his phone and dialed the first number he could think of. It happened to be Dick’s. The tour would be starting soon. Hopefully he would answer.

He picked up on the second ring.

“Baby Bird?”

“Dick! I am so late for school. I overslept! Can you please _please_ call and tell them I’m coming?”

“Sure, but why not ask Alfred?” came his brother’s reply.

“He said last night that he had errands to run. He’ll be gone all morning!” he groaned as he stuffed his completed homework into his bag.

Slinging his stuff over his shoulder, he hurried out the door, down the hall, and down the stairs.

“Okay, how you getting there?”

Damian scoffed.

“Tt. I can drive.”

He could hear his brother smirking over the line.

“Okay, I’ll give them a call and let B know.”

“Thank you,” he said.

Grabbing the keys to the least conspicuous car his father owned, he drove himself to school. He stopped by attendance for his late pass. Grayson had already called it seemed as his tardiness was marked excused.

Damian’s teacher raised an eyebrow at him when he walked through the classroom door. Damian Wayne was never late. He was always on top of all of his work. Still, Mr. Benson accepted the pass he handed him, glancing at the excuse written on it as Damian took his seat in the back corner next to Jon Kent. It just vaguely said ‘family matters’. He tossed it down on the desk and continued with the lesson, passing the worksheet to the first row to make its way back to the latecomer.

The rest of class passed without incident other than Jon trying to get Damian’s attention every once in a while and Damian surprisingly giving it, leaning to the side slightly to hear his friends commentary on the lesson. Mr. Benson wasn’t sure whether or not to call them out.

When they were dismissed for lunch Damian was packing up all his things very slowly, so Jon hung back to wait for him. Usually Damian flew out of the room after the lesson.

“Are you okay?” Jon asked.

Damian looked up at his friend, face devoid of his usual frown. He was almost smiling.

“Yeah, I’m good. Let’s go.”

Jon was taken aback but returned Damian’s almost-smile nevertheless. They made their way out of the classroom and toward the lunchroom, blissfully unware of the passing stares they received in the hall. It was hard not to notice the Gotham High Ice Prince’s vast change in demeanor over the last few weeks, and everyone was on edge hoping it would last. 

A freshman stumbled a little ways down the hall from them, her things tumbling to the floor. She stared down at her scattered papers and sighed before leaning down to pick everything back up. By the time she grabbed her first paper, Damian was there helping her collect her books. He passed everything over to her with a slight smile, her just staring at him with shock. Even Jon was blinking in surprise, and he knew about the soulmate thing. Damian didn’t acknowledge the strange looks, instead choosing to continue to the cafeteria.

Of course there were rumors going around. Jon hadn’t exactly been quiet that day two weeks ago. He had practically announced it to the whole room before Damian shushed him. Neither had said anything about it in school since and none of the student body were brave enough to ask Damian himself. Even if they did, he probably wouldn’t tell them. His family was rather private. Most of Gotham didn’t even know what they looked like save Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne himself. Even the obituary picture published in the paper for Jason Todd all those years ago was grainy.

“Wow.”

Damian turned his head to Jon.

“What?” he asked.

“Back there. You usually don’t stop for people in the halls,” Jon said.

Damian fell silent beside him before giving a shrug.

“Must be something she would do,” he admitted.

Jon smiled at his friend whose face was turning a bit pink at the thought of the unknown girl. Out of the corner of his eye, Jon saw one of their classmates turn when Damian said that. Clearly they were interested in news of the alleged soulmate. For a split second, he was concerned she would start a train of gossip, but then he realized it was just Annie, the president of the French club. She was a nice girl, if a little oblivious. Jon knew she wouldn’t cause any problems. However, if anyone was brave enough to ask about it, it was her.

She caught up to them in a few seconds.

“You met your soulmate?” she asked.

Damian froze, coming to a halt in the middle of the hallway. Everyone within earshot froze, waiting for the other shoe to drop, ruining Damian’s good mood. But he didn’t look mad. He looked contemplative as if he was deciding if he should tell her the truth.

“No,” he said finally. “But I know she’s out there.”

Jon’s eyes looked back and forth between their faces, looking to see if anything would happen. No one had ever spoken so directly to Damian Wayne like this and Jon heard her heart skip a beat in sudden anxiety.

She glanced down and away from his steady gaze.

“Well, good luck.”

Damian just nodded in response and kept walking.

In the lunch room, Jon finally got the answer he had been implying all morning.

“I just overslept, Jon. That’s it.”

“But you never oversleep! Did you stay up super late last night or something?” he pushed.

He shook his head.

“It was just a fluke. I’ll be on time tomorrow (😅).”

When it was clear Damian would say no more on the subject, Jon brought up WE’s recent activities.

“So, have you heard anything about the class your dad is sponsoring?” he asked.

Nodding, Damian said, “Yes, a few of them will be in each homeroom. So we should have two or three of them.”

“Aren’t they touring Wayne Enterprises today?”

“Yes, and I believe Richard is leading them around the building,” he said.

Jon was floored. Overnight Damian had graduated from calling his brother by his last name. He wanted to push to see if the phenomena would continue.

“How about Tim? Is he involved?” Jon asked, knowing very well Tim was too busy to lead around the French class, and not knowing that Tim was currently researching that French class instead of doing his work that would have made him too busy to lead around the French class.

“No, Tim is…” he paused, suddenly noticing what he was saying. “Drake is working.”

That was enough of a victory for Jon, however, silently celebrating this strange milestone in his head.

“Is Dick the only one who speaks French?” Jon asked.

“I speak French fluently. As does Father. Why do you ask?” Damian squinted at him.

He shrugged finally focusing back on his lunch in front of him.

“Just wondering how they are gonna join our class if they don’t speak English, you know? Are we gonna have a translator in every class?” Jon wondered.

Clearly, Damian was missing a vital piece of information.

“It’s… it’s a French class?”

Jon gave him a crooked smile.

“Yeah. You didn’t know that? Maybe you could-” Damian didn’t let him finish.

“François Dupont?” he interrupted.

Damian had spent hours on the computer tracing back that damned textbook from the video. It took a lot of time to check and see what textbook a school used and even longer looking to see what schools to research in the first place. When he finally found out that only one school used that edition of history textbook he was both angry at all the time it took him to figure that out but also ecstatic. She had to be at that school.

He slowed down when he realized he had no idea if his soulmate was actually still in the same class as Alya. That video on Alya Cesaire’s Ladyblog was from nearly three years ago. He blinked into an empty classroom. It would have been perfectly easy for her to walk into a classroom to collect her friend for her birthday. But judging by their closeness, he established that she most likely _is_ in her class. So he focused on Alya as the center. He found out the teacher, how many kids are in the class, and had even found a class picture.

From what he could tell from the slightly blurry photo, there were five girls with blue eyes. Birthdates were listed on every single one of their files. He just had to match the name to the face. And he did. Using a quick social media search.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Damian Wayne knew exactly what his soulmate looked like and he had never even met her. What else could be expected from the blood son of one of the greatest detectives in the world?

Jon’s answer brought him back to the present.

“Um, I think so? I only really skimmed the article so…”

Damian’s silence increased Jon’s suspicion. Why didn’t anyone tell him it was a French class? Of course, Damian hadn’t told anyone of his findings. He wanted to do everything himself with no one running interference. So why would anyone mention a French class won the scholarship? As far as they knew his soulmate was from the US.

There was still a chance it was a different class from the same school. But all evidence pointed to it being Marinette’s. They were supposed to meet this year and Damian had no plans to go to France. To be sure, he would need to see proof.

He yanked his phone from his pocket, quickly typing Wayne scholarship into the search bar. Up popped the winner’s page with a picture. Being the tallest, Dick drew his eye first, then his gaze bounced to the teacher and his stomach dropped. That was definitely Mlle. Bustier. He recognized the woman from her employment file. When Damian’s eyes widened, Jon lightly touched his wrist changing the angle he held the phone so he could also see the picture.

“Yeah, that’s them.”

Damian scanned the rest of the student’s faces, landing finally on hers. It was a good thing he had years of experience hiding his emotions or Jon would have seen right through him and would have started pushing him for information. It’s not that he didn’t want Jon to know. He just wanted to do it all himself.

Every nerve in his body told him to get up and run to the Wayne building right now. But he pressed it down hard. She didn’t know him as Damian. She probably had figured out he was Robin by now. So he had to play the game carefully.

So, he decided to wait. After all she would be coming to him the very next day. Not a word to anyone until it was time.

_‘I can handle this.’_

Now, Jon wasn’t an idiot. A bit happy-go-lucky, but not an idiot. His heightened senses and abilities had his mind working faster than a human being could fathom. He saw Damian’s shoulders tense, imperceptible to his peers around them. He heard his heart quicken, despite all of Damian’s protests to him listening. He knew something about the situation was putting him on edge. But also that there was probably nothing that would force his friend to tell him. So he didn’t push, letting Damian think he had fooled him. It wouldn’t do to argue with the son of Batman.

The rest of the day went smoothly. After he drove himself home that afternoon, he walked through the door and cringed. He could hear the music all the way down at the gate (exaggeration). Jason must be home. He walked to the center of the entrance hall. Alfred emerged from off to his right.

“Welcome home, Master Damian.”

“What’s this?” Damian asked, the song loudly blaring through the manor.

“IT’S JAGGED STONE, BITCH!” Jason shouted from behind him.

Alfred frowned at the language. As he reprimanded his older brother, Damian returned the car keys to their spot and made his way up the stairs to his room where he would stay until dinner later that evening. He distractedly doing his homework while deciding what he would say to her when they met. He would have to visit her as Robin. He would have to gauge how trustworthy she is. But despite all that was in front of him, enough to stress most people out, he was excited. He was finally going to meet his universe chosen other half.

A few miles away, in the city, that other half was staring out into a crowd of strangers, trying to pick out any familiar faces. When she saw that she was alone, her brow furrowed.

“Tt.”


	14. At Least She Got Her Charger

Marinette spent the rest of the tour that continued after lunch in stony silence. Her whole class had started to catch on that something was off about the way she had been acting. Mylene swore she hadn’t seen her smile all day. Any and all questions were met with quick and to the point answers. She wasn’t terribly unfriendly, she just seemed indifferent.

After they got back to the lobby, Richard led them out of the building and into the afternoon sun. They all loaded into the bus, driving to a local shopping square where they were free to wander for a bit.

Dick informed everyone that they had permission to shop around the area for an hour and a half as long as they stayed nearby.

Alya and Lila walked off together, Nino following dutifully behind his girlfriend.

Adrien watched them walk off into the square before turning to Marinette with a dry smile.

“So, Bug. What are we thinking?”

“Hmm, I don’t know, Minou. Coffee?”

He laughed, “How did I know you would say that?”

She rolled her eyes in mock annoyance before turning to scan the area for a source of caffeine. There were a few touristy shops, it being a safer area of Gotham, that sold t-shirts, snow globes, and other little tchotchkes. She passed right over those, finally landing on a quaint little coffee place that looked like it’s patrons wore beanies all year round. Perfect.

Once she had a destination in sight, she reached back and grabbed Adrien’s wrist. At contact, Adrien’s skin started to emit a soft candy apple red glow, Marinette’s a complementary grass green. Like Christmas some of their other friends have said.

It seemed they weren’t the only ones drawn in by the shop. Ivan and Mylene were already there, Rose and Juleka trailing slightly behind them, hand in hand, conversing quietly in French. The older teen behind the counter looking at them expectantly and with a little apprehension.

“Are you guys going to get something?” Marinette asked.

Rose jumped up, suddenly very happy.

“Marinette! You’re here! You speak English right?” she asked.

She nodded in confirmation.

“Lila said she would help us order but we don’t know where she went,” Mylene added.

Marinette smiled a touch, knowing exactly why Lila was suddenly not around when her _friends_ needed her.

“I’m sure she just forgot,” Ivan placated.

Nonetheless, Marinette whipped out a mini sketch pad and a pencil, prepared to write.

“Tell me what you want. I’ll order for you.”

They all eagerly told her what they wanted, some menu translation on Marinette’s end. She went to the counter orders and money in hand. They all handed off their flimsy American bills they’d exchanged at the airport to her.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m not that great at French,” the relieved looking cashier admitted. “I’m sure my teacher would be disappointed if she could see me now.”

Marinette just smiled and gave her the orders, designating names for each, having to spell out Mylene’s and Juleka’s for her as she wrote them on the cups. When she returned back to the group with their change, she let them know that they should go collect their drink from the counter when their name was called.

The poor barista that was actually making the drinks just stared at Mylene’s name as it passed under his hands. When it was ready he gave the pronunciation his best shot. He did not succeed.

“Thanks, Marinette. That was… really cool of you to… do that,” Juleka mumbled.

Marinette could hardly hear the girl over the noise of the shop, but she got the gist. The other three followed suit, thanking her. They soon filed out of the shop to explore a bit more. Marinette and Adrien elected to sit for a bit and kill some time.

“So,” Adrien broke into their comfortable silence. “What are you most excited about for this trip.”

She sipped her precious beverage thoughtfully before answering.

“The Gardens.”

Adrien leaned forward, having not heard the answer he was expecting.

“Well, of course the Gala. But the Gardens are a close second.”

“Ha! That’s what I thought,” he continued leaning over the table. “Soo, you designed Alya’s dress. How ‘bout yours? Is it done?”

She shook her head.

“No, I did all the base work at home since I couldn’t bring my machine. So, all I really need to do is the details. I was hoping to pick up the rest of the materials I need to finish it here.”

“Well,” Adrien squinched up his face cheekily. “I would be honored to be your model if you need.”

Marinette placed the tip of her finger on his nose and pushed back. He settled back into his seat, nose glowing slightly.

“If you want me to make you a dress all you have to do is ask,” she smirked.

They sat in the pleasant atmosphere of the shop until they had finished their drinks. When they finally decided to move on, Marinette gasped.

“Adrien! I have to get a charger! I left mine at home and my phone is totally dead!”

Both looking and failing to find an obvious solution, Adrien offered his advice.

“Suppose we should just ask someone?”

She sniffed, pretending to be offended.

“You doubt my skill?”

He nodded.

“You should.”

She looked around the street and finally found a friendly enough looking person. One of the only people on the street who didn’t look like he was in a hurry, instead standing outside the coffee shop they had just come from, drinking from a two liter plastic water bottle. She approached him. He was probably around the same age as her, maybe a little older, wearing an atrocious Hawaiian shirt three sizes too big. One she thought only existed in the American tourist trope. Under that, an 'Ah! Element of Surprise’ t-shirt, grass stained blue jeans, and ripped up Van’s. Wrinkling her nose at the fashion disaster, she reached up and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He looked down at her. His hair stood straight up like he had been hanging upside down all day long.

He looked a little confused, looking at her wordlessly, clearly waiting for her to say something first.

“Excusez-moi, do you know where I can find a phone charger like this?”

She showed him the charge port.

“Uhhh, well I don’t live here so I don’t really know,” he said frankly. (cuz who in their right mind would visit gotham lmao)

She frowned, Adrien waiting expectantly nearby.

“I think I passed, like, a CVS two blocks back? You could look there.”

She looked down the street, just barely seeing the red sign. Someone called from ten feet away.

“Come on, Chaz, we gotta go. I have class in like forty minutes,” the older girl said, picking at the sleeve of her sweater, much like his Hawaiian shirt, three sizes too big.

He bobbed his head and lifted his hand over his head, giving one small wave.

“Good luck!” he said and walked down towards the girl.

Back to Adrien, she pointed in the direction of the CVS.

“That way.”

Right as they started to walk, Adrien heard his name being called. It was Nino, running up behind them.

“Hey, bro!” he gave them both fist bumps.

“Hey, Nino. Where’s Alya?” Marinette asked.

His shoulders slumped a little bit.

“Oh, we joined up with Rose and Juleka, so I was a bit outnumbered. Do you mind if I steal Adrien for a bit but like right behind you?” he begged.

Mari scrunched up her face and threw up her hands, electing not to give him a real answer and instead kept walking.

“Sorry, Mari! I need bro time!”

A few minutes later they have finally arrived at the CVS, red and white sign obvious over the entrance. As they walked through the sliding doors, they were hit with a blast of air.

Leaving the boys to talk near the first aisle, she went on her quest for a phone charger.

It was hardly two minutes after Nino had went to catch up with Adrien when Lila enacted the second stage in her plan.

“Oh, Alya! I just thought of a question for Adrien about modeling technique! I have to go ask him right now or I’ll forget! I got a concussion a few years back when I saved a little boy from a speeding car. It really messes with my memory sometimes. Do you mind if I go find him?” she batted her eyes unconvincingly.

But who was Alya to doubt her.

“Oh, is that why you forgot about coffee?” Rose asked, suddenly concerned for her friends health.

In all honesty Lila had actually forgotten about her promise to help them with ordering. But if it helped cement her new lie while protecting her old one… she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

She nodded pitifully. Alya gave a sympathetic smile.

“Of course Lila. Do what you gotta do. Would you like me to come with you?” the reporter asked.

“No!” Lila said too quickly. “I don’t want to bother you with work stuff. I’ll be quick, okay? I’ll see you back at the bus.”

Alya smiled and nodded her assent.

So with that, Lila ran off after Nino and followed them at a distance all the way to their destination. Waiting for Marinette to disappear into the store first, she quietly entered the building. She smirked when neither boy noticed her entrance. Perfect.

Surprising Adrien with the sudden touch, she latched onto his arm. When the shock faded, it morphed into distaste at the person who was taking up his personal space. But she didn’t see that. She was looking at Nino.

“Nino, sweetie, I need your help.”

“What’s up?” he asked. He noticed Adrien’s unhappy expression.

“Well, I really want to get Alya a gift while we’re in Gotham. She has just been such a good friend to me and I want to get her something to show her that, you know? And you know her the best! So, what do you say?”

“Oh, um-”

“And Adrien, do you think you could come too? I don’t want anyone to think I’m trying to steal Alya’s soulmate away from her,” Lila said sweetly.

That weird smile and the implication behind her words made Nino a little uncomfortable. She had been giving him bad vibes lately. But still, he would feel bad not helping her. Across the two foot space, Adrien was desperately trying to make eye contact with him, silently pleading with his friend to turn her down. He knew that Lila’s clinging made his bro a little uncomfortable, but to let her flounder when she asked nicely?

“Well, I-”

“Sorry, Lila. At least one of us has to stay here. Can’t leave Marinette,” Adrien cut him off.

Lila’s creepy smile widened.

“Oh, Alya went to go find her in the store! Didn’t you see us come in together?” she asked.

Nino blinked behind his glasses. He did leave Alya in a group with Lila. He had no reason to believe Lila would just ditch Alya. His brow furrowed before relaxing slightly.

“Ok, Lila. What did you have in mind?”

It was like victory hellfire flared up in her eyes. She linked her arm with Nino’s, not letting go of Adrien at the same time. She pulled them across the street to a small boutique where they barely had time to look around before Lila was informing them that they should be heading back to the bus. Adrien tried to return to the CVS, but Lila pulled him back, telling him that Alya had texted her that she and Mari were already at the intended destination.

It took far too long, but she had finally snagged an employee that could get their hands on a charger. They were new and still learning the stock. If Marinette had any less of a grasp on the English language they most likely would have had to get their supervisor.

With her prize paid for and coiled up in her bag, she returned to where she had left her two friends. When she didn’t see them, she reached toward her purse where Tikki was hiding before remembering the phone wouldn’t help if it was dead. She let her hand fall slack against her side.

She took a step out the door and scanned the crowd. There were plenty of people bustling about, second shift employees heading to work, students just getting out of class, anyone going home early from their day job. But no blond model or hat wearing DJ in sight.

She didn’t know that Lila had immediately ditched Alya and followed Nino. She didn’t know that the boys had been dragged away to look for a present Lila would never buy. She didn’t know that ten minutes after Lila had dragged them away that she said they’d better be heading back to the bus. She didn’t know that when Adrien tried to confirm that she was in the back of the bus by Alya that a liar dragged him down into the seat. She didn’t know that Mlle. Bustier did a visual sweep rather than roll call. What she did know is that she was pissed.

So she started walking. She walked back the way she had come, stopping again at the coffee shop for another drink with three shots of espresso this time. She was gonna need it if she was gonna have to deal with whatever bs Lila was trying to pull. People parted around her, avoiding her icy gaze, familiar to anyone who had ever met Gotham’s Ice Prince.

A few miles away, outside the city, her soulmate’s quiet excitement directly contrasted with her anger.

They would meet tomorrow, but first they had to make it through today.


	15. Wait Was That MDC

At the hotel, they all filed off the bus, finally giving Mlle. Bustier the full view of her students. She swept over them again but when she came up short, pulled out her attendance sheet, going through the list one by one and didn’t stop until she saw the name but no face.

“Marinette?”

She saw Adrien freeze next to Lila. His expression devolved into one of panic.

Lila gasped.

“Oh, poor Marinette! She must still be there!”

If Mlle. Bustier had stopped to look at every single one if their faces, she would have seen the righteous anger on Alix’s or the dawning realization on Nino’s, not to mention the rising agitation on the blond model’s. Everyone started chattering at once and Mlle. Bustier dashed over to where Dick was looking at something on his phone (something important mayhaps?). She grabbed his wrist and started speaking in French much too fast for him to keep up.

“Slow down! What?”

“One of our students wasn’t on the bus! I thought I saw her before we pulled away but she isn’t here!” she looked close to tears.

Just like Marinette, she knew how dangerous Gotham could be to a teenage girl all by herself.

Dick cursed, shoved his phone back into his pocket, and watched the coach bus pull away from the curb. The driver would have checked all the seats so there was no way she was still on it.

Deciding quickly what to do, he thought to his car in the lot.

“Don’t, worry. I’ll go back and find her. I’ll need two other people to make a group of three though.” he told her before addressing the class. “I need two volunteers to come with me to find your classmate!”

Adrien finally shook off Lila, stepping forward. He looked sick with worry. Dick nodded and waited another moment for the next volunteer. A very short girl with pink hair stepped up next and she looked absolutely livid.

Confirming again with the teacher and getting her number to let her know when they had found her, they loaded into Dick’s car and started to drive back to where they came.

Dick eyed the two teens in the back of his car through the rearview mirror. They were conversing quietly, the anger determinedly clinging to the girl’s face. The boy still just looked worried.

He cleared his throat and they broke away from the conversation to look back at him in the mirror.

“So, would either of you like to tell me how this kind of thing would happen?”

“Well, I certainly have an idea,” the girl spat.

“Alix…”

“You know I’m right! Alya wouldn’t just walk away.”

Adrien nodded, too concerned for Marinette to scrutinize the afternoon’s events. He knew Alix was right, though and would not stop her from telling her piece.

“I think Lila left Marinette on purpose,” Alix stated, looking at Adrien in challenge.

When he did not deny it, Dick was shocked.

“Why?”

“Lila hates her. Marinette saw from the beginning that she was a liar and has been trying to prove that to us ever since. Half the class thinks Mari’s just overexaggerating. But I’ve seen the way Lila looks at Mari when she thinks no one sees. She told Adrien and Nino that Alya was with Marinette and that they should come with her. There’s no way that was true! Marinette is Alya’s best friend. She would never leave her behind on purpose.”

Dick met the blond boy’s, Adrien’s, eyes in the mirror before glancing back to the road.

"It’s true, sir. My friend and I had walked with Marinette to a store. We hadn’t seen Lila come in but she told us that Alya went into the store to find Mari. She made us leave with her to help her find something and by the time she dragged us back to the bus Alya was there and we could only assume Marinette was too.”

Dick pursed his lips and let the rest of the ride go by in silence. That was a devious and manipulative thing for a teenager to do. But he had seen worse for sure. As for the girl who’d been left behind, he hoped she was smart enough to stay put. And if Tim was right with his theory, he hoped Damian never found out about this because he would be beyond angry. There would probably be attempted murder involved.

Instead of going back to work like he should have, Tim had spent his afternoon researching the French class. Specifically Miss. Dupain-Cheng. She was acting very familiar from the way she spoke and even walked and Tim suspected her behavior was not natural. So he scrolled through records until he found her birthday. About two weeks ago. Which was exactly the date Damian claimed to have switched with her. Of course it could just be a coincidence. But that was doubtful. There’s never coincidences in this line of work. Quickly checking social media he found that the seriousness he and Dick were met with was not normal for the girl, judging by the bright smile she had in every image she was tagged in. He stopped looking as soon as he was convinced. He didn’t want what would probably be considered a creepy search recorded on company computers.

So instead of continuing on, he sent what he found to Dick, which is what he had been reading when the French teacher started panicking.

“Wait, hold on. Is this the same girl who claimed she was soulmates with Damian Wayne?” Dick suddenly remembered.

Alix and Adrien made eye contact. The boy just looked slightly uncomfortable but the girl looked absolutely gleeful at the prospect of Lila being caught by someone who actually had access to the truth. She answered him by nodding.

Dick just looked ahead thoughtfully, hiding away the nervousness he felt. Originally he thought letting Damian confront that girl would be fine, or at least not so damaging. But now…

They finally pulled up to where the bus had been parked a while before. Across the street on a bus stop bench sat the short girl, legs crossed and sipping her coffee with malice. Yup. Just like Damian. She looked up, eyes narrowed when the vehicle pulled up. She stood up sharply and smoothed her skirt. The way she stalked over to the car when Alix rolled down the window and called to her only added to the effect.

“Hey Mari,” Alix said.

“Kubdel. Lovely to see you,” the girl returned, sarcasm sharp as a Batarang.

_‘I will be so surprised if this girl does not turn out to be Damian’s soulmate.’_

Alix gestured for her to sit in the front so the three of them didn’t have to squeeze into the back. As she buckled her seat belt, the two in the backseat started talking at the same time.

“Marinette, we are so sorry.”

“I should have never let Lila-”

She held up a hand, cutting them off.

“It’s not your fault. And look, I’m fine. See?” she smiled wide to punctuate her statement.

_‘Okay, little less like Damian than I thought.’_

“Miss Marinette,” Dick began.

She turned her still softening gaze on him.

“I am very sorry that this happened. I should never have allowed the bus to leave without absolutely ensuring that everyone was present.”

“Thank you, Mr. Grayson,” she said in English. “but this was not your fault. You do not need to apologize.”

’ _Oh, my god, she’s so sweet? That must be where Damian is getting it from.’_

Before restarting the car, Dick took out his phone to text Mlle. Bustier that all of her students were now accounted for and to respond to Tim’s message. He hadn’t gotten the chance before the teacher interrupted him.

 ** _dickybird: i think you might be right_**

**_timtam: should we tell the demon or let him figure it out on his own??_ **

**_dickybird:_ 😅**

An uneasy silence fell over the car, the only noise filtering softly through the speakers. A slightly calloused hand reached across the dashboard to the volume dial.

“Is this Jagged Stone?” she asked.

“Yes, it is! You like Jagged Stone, too?” Dick perked up in the driver’s seat.

Marinette could feel Adrien’s knowing smirk at her back as she nodded an affirmation.

“I love Jagged.”

Dick decided to go on, filling the quiet with friendly conversation.

“I swear he’s never _not_ playing at my dad’s. All of us love him. Even my wife listens to him. My brother probably loves him the most, though,” he laughed.

“Did you watch his latest interview?” Adrien piped up from the back.

Marinette sent him a warning glance, which Dick did not see.

“You mean the one about his new designer?”

“Yes, that’s the one,” Adrien confirmed.

“Yes, we watched that one together. I hope they open up commissions for the general public because those designs are killer!”

Marinette tried to hide her grin.

“I’m actually having a little competition with my brother. Which one of us can get an MDC original first.”

“Ohh, really?” Adrien drawled.

“Yeah,” he snorted. “It’s probably just a pipe dream, though.”

Adrien nodded without conviction.

“Is that the same brother as before?” Alix added.

“Huh? Oh! No. Different brother. I have… a lot.”

“… a lot?”

They spent the rest of the ride trying to understand Dick’s family dynamic, which he skillfully explained without outing himself as a Wayne. Although Marinette already knew that, Alix and Adrien seemed blissfully unaware they were in the presence of one of their sponsors and not just a representative.

“Thank you, Richard,” Alix said as she climbed from the car.

Marinette hesitated in her seat. She _had_ been meaning to expand her clientele. And who better than her soulmate’s family? She always carried a business card or two on her. Or more like she forgot to take them out of her wallet after the last event she attended with Jagged.

She reached into her purse, carefully going around Tikki, and produced her wallet. Adrien watched with rapt attention and a grin in the back seat.

From the wallet she pulled out a very fancy looking business card, MDC in careful script, her signature, splayed across one side. She had designed them herself. Her cell phone number and professional email took residence on the other side. It was simple but elegant.

Before she could change her mind she held it out for Dick to take. He took the offered card reflexively.

“Shoot me an email if you want to win that competition with your brother,” she said quickly, before getting out of the car at top speed.

Adrien laughed in victory and followed her out.

Dick was still processing while the kids met their waiting teacher at the lobby door.

“Oh my god.”

The car sat on the curb for a good five minutes while Dick analyzed what was just placed in front of him. Is that girl really MDC? She’s so young! But he doubted, just by her actions previous, that she was a liar. So, he tucked the card into his jacket and started his drive back to the manor.

Dick did not mention the new information he learned about Miss Dupain-Cheng to Tim. Instead they had a long conversation about the research Tim had gathered. He had found almost and much as Damian had, given he had an easier starting point (a name). And they both decided it would be best if someone let Damian know that they suspected his soulmate was nearby.

“I mean, he hasn’t told us if he’s found her, yet,” Tim sighed.

“Well, you know how he is.”

“Okay, well, who’s talking to him?”

It ended up being Dick. He caught up with his as he was leaving the manor library, a book on physical artforms tucked under his arm.

“… I’m aware.”

“You are?!”

Damian nodded.

“I figured out her name two weeks ago. I saw her picture on the scholarship page. I… should be meeting her tomorrow.”

Dick processed that, a little annoyed at the lack of updates on his part, before asking the most important question.

“Are you going to introduce yourself to her?”

Damian looked at his oldest brother, eyes uncharacteristically bright.

“Not like this,” he gestured to his street clothes. “She doesn’t know me like this.”

“Oh, so you’re gonna go in your pajamas?” a voice said from the hall.

Damian whipped around immediately and pegged the book in his hand at Jason as he rounded the corner. He hit the ground with a thud, still not regretting a thing.

“No,” he said pleasantly.


	16. It's Educational

Word had passed through the manor. So, that morning when Damian was about to leave, everyone was waiting for him in the entrance hall. Even Jason who notoriously pretended like he couldn’t give less of a shit.

Dick pulled him aside as the rest of the family converged on the area. Damian apparently didn’t have it in him to glare today, instead an almost smile fixated on his face. He knew what he was going to say next would slap the pleasant look off his brother’s face and he almost didn’t tell him. But Dick knew there would be far greater consequences if Damian walked into this situation completely blind.

“There’s a girl in this group who… likes to talk.”

Already the frown started to come back, but softer than usual.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

He hesitated again before forging ahead. Quietly he explained to his brother what he had heard the day before on the bus, still not telling him that Marinette was left behind on purpose by that same girl. He wanted her to stop lying, not get murdered. The look on Damian’s face was carefully schooled into neutrality. Which surprised him. Damian usually had a tougher time controlling his more negative emotions. Of course that could be attributed to Miss Marinette, who seemed quite in control when she wasn’t displaying Damien’s personality.

“Thank you for telling me, Richard. I’ll take it from here.”

_‘Richard???’_

The family took that moment to listen in.

“Oh, my goodness gracious.”

Jason smiled victoriously at the sound of Bruce’s exclamation, turning to Steph viciously.

“No!” Steph cried before reaching into her wallet in defeat, pulling out a twenty dollar bill and passing it off to Jason.

Tim tiredly asked, “What was that about?”

“I bet her I could get Bruce to say that by the end of the month unironically,” he smirked. “There’s only so many times you can hear something before you start saying it yourself.”

Tim nodded in confirmation.

“He’s said it a few times, I think.”

“When have you ever heard me say that other than just now?” Bruce demanded.

“Sometimes you go 'oh my goodness gracious’???” Dick offered, joining the conversation.

Bruce squinted at his oldest, before conceding that his words were true.

“Enough!” Damian silenced them. “I will inform you of my plan after school.”

“Good luck, Baby Bird. Don’t scare her off,” Jay snickered.

Damian shot him an annoyed look but ultimately just shrugged and walked out the door. Alfred followed Damian out with a tip of the head to the rest of the watching family.

Like always, the ride to school was silent. Every mile they got closer to the school the more nervous Damian became. When they got to the front of the school, Alfred took in Damian’s attitude and body language. He was reluctant to get out of the car, hesitating to grab the handle of the door.

“What’s wrong, Master Damian?” he asked gently.

It appeared as though he was holding back before suddenly exploding.

“What if I meet her and she doesn’t like me? What if I say something to offend her and she doesn’t want anything to do with me? What if i can’t trust her and I can never tell her my real name? And then-”

Alfred gave him a pointed look and he ceased his panicked rambling.

“This girl is the one person in the universe who is meant to understand you completely. That connection runs deeper than any other bond on earth. A connection like that builds trust. Whether or not you reveal your identity to her is up to you, but remember that the universe picked this pair for a reason. Take a deep breath. It will be fine.”

Damian did as he was told, sitting in the seat with his leg bouncing. When he had gathered himself, he moved to get out of the car. He was distracted enough that he didn’t see the slight movement in the sky, gone in the blink of an eye, that signified Jon’s arrival.

“Master Damian,” the butler said.

Damian said nothing but still looked over.

“Good luck.”

“… thank you, Alfred.”

And he really meant it.

Jon was waiting for him just inside the doors.

“Good luck with what?” he asked.

“Jon. Stop listening to my conversations.”

The boy just rolled his eyes. Damian knew he couldn’t really turn it off. So, side by side they walked toward the class. They were early today, giving Grayson plenty of time to talk to him and get to the hotel to escort the class. But eventually all of their classmates arrived, sporadically and slowly.

Richard had told him that the class would be split up, so it was only two or three students added to each homeroom. So it was no surprise to him when three new students walked in, a red headed woman and the principal standing behind them in the doorway briefly before escorting more students down the hall. He didn’t see her. She must have been assigned already.

Of the three that came into his classroom, Damian recognized one of them right away. He tensed up considerably, Jon trying not to make it obvious that he noticed. Alya Césaire. One of his soulmate’s best friends. He knew he wouldn’t be lucky enough to have none of them in his class. He cursed quietly, Jon side eyeing him. Instead of dwelling on the incoming stress he was sure to face, he tried to place the other two standing slightly behind her to Ayla’s right and left.

A familiar tall boy with dark hair done up with blonde spikes in the front, and an Italian girl who apparently modeled her hair style after soppressata. But apparently the sausages were not to be trifled with as one look in her eyes told every instinct Damian had not to trust her. And a good thing too because Damian was quite certain that was the girl Grayson had warned him about.

From what he could recall from Marinette’s social media, the boy’s name was Kim, and he was quite the athlete. Their history was far back into their childhood as near as Damian could tell. The girl, however, was in none of his soulmate’s photos. They were not friends.

“Alright everyone, for the next few weeks we will be hosting a few students from another country. They are the winners of the Wayne Enterprises scholarship!” Mr. Benson said.

The teacher glanced back at Damian, who was sitting tense, poised at the front of his seat. That was strange, but not that strange for the youngest Wayne. all of Mr. Wayne’s kids seemed ready to jump up at any moment. That was most likely why they all seemed to choose corner seats in the back, so they could survey the whole class without turning a head.

“They are here from Paris! I expect all of you to be as welcoming as possible.”

He turned to the three and said something in shaky French. The girl at the front of the trio considered that for a moment before answering and gesturing to the Italian girl, who looked a little sick to her stomach.

“Oh, wonderful!” Mr. Benson clapped his hands together.

His next question was directed at the aforementioned girl.

“Would you care to introduce everyone?” he asked.

She gave a very off smile. It didn’t look like she had fully grasped what he asked of her since she just gave a slight wave to the watching class. Alya turned back a little with a confused look. The teacher swooped in before Lila’s truth could be exposed fully to the two Parisians in the class. Mr. Benson saw her floundering and turned back to his class scanning the rows. His eyes settled on Damian.

“Does anyone in here speak French?”

He grimaced, before raising his hand slightly, only to be shown up by the president of the French club. She stood up with a bright smile and started talking to the three with the best pronunciation she could muster. She was the only other Gotham High student in the room who had an at least decent grasp of the language. Damian settled back into his seat with a sigh of relief. He didn’t know how much Alya would be able to put together, since in his research he noticed her passion for investigative journalism, and he’d rather not call attention to himself just yet. Annie was still at the front, taking to the three newcomers. She introduced herself before asking them their names.

The boy spoke first.

“Je m'appelle Kim,” he said with a smirk.

“Lila.”

“Alya,” Damian whispered along with her.

Jon was shocked. If he didn’t have super hearing he might have missed it. He gave Damian a poke, which ended up being harder than he intended, leaving his friend wincing.

“How do you know her name?” he whispered.

Damian glanced at Jon out of the corner of his eye, before electing to not answer and stare forward again. Jon huffed in frustration. Which is when it hit him that there’s only one thing that has been occupying most of Damian’s hours for two entire weeks. His eyes widened, resembling two unworldly blue silver dollars.

“She’s here, isn’t she?” he said lowly.

Damian said nothing again. He didn’t have to. It was written all over his face. Jon had to keep himself from jumping through the ceiling in excitement. His best friend’s soulmate was _here_.

Mr. Benson, unaware of the revelation happening in the back corner of the room, started passing out regular worksheets for his class, holding a few sheets of extra to the side. The three French teachers in the building had worked for the last two weeks translating lesson plans into worksheets for the visiting students. French Honor Society students even helped out for some useful volunteer hours. Annie brought those worksheets to Alya, Kim, and Lila.

As the teacher went on with the lesson, Damian decided to completely forgo paying attention, instead thinking about what his plan was going to be. He was worlds ahead of his peers in the curriculum anyhow. As far as her knew, Marinette did not know his real name (haha yes she does) or what he really looked like (okay true). So avoiding her during school hours should be fine. Judging by her school records, discounting her attendance, she was an incredibly good student. So she was smart. Probably smart enough to not mention who her soulmate is. Even the dumbest of Gothamites knew it was a bad idea to mention connection to the vigilantes if they wanted to hang onto all of their limbs. He hoped it would be the same.

He couldn’t just approach her during school hours. He had no clue how she would take that kind of revelation (surprisingly well if Adrien was any example) Robin will have to swing by if he wanted to talk to her. That much he had planned.

So, he would wait until after dark and then he would go knock on her window. It shouldn’t be difficult to find out which room she was in. The main issue with that was he had no idea if she had a roommate. That would prove counter productive.

 _‘Maybe I could leave her a note._ ’ he thought.

So, he had a roommate back up plan. Of course, if he was able to go through with Plan A someone in his family would insist on him having a chaperone. He hoped they would let him pick.

But what about the other girl? She was a liar. Should he confront her privately? His soulmate would probably do that (haha no).The way her lie had been described, with so many in the class hanging onto her every word, it was clear it wasn’t her only lie. Such a big lie would take some talented convincing or some very idiotic listeners. He hoped it was the former so that his soulmate wasn’t forced to go to school with a bunch of imbeciles.

 _'Just take the high road,’_ his mind provided.

“Like hell I’m doing that,” he said out loud, startling Jon next to him who was not privy to his inner thoughts.

Startled a few kids around them too, who gave Damian an odd look. An unfamiliar heat crept up his face when he realized he had spoken out loud. The feeling faded far too quickly.

The lesson went on, Alya and Lila whispering back and forth to each other, not being able to understand the lesson that was being taught in the front anyway. Kim, sitting right next to them, was skimming the sheet he was given, or at least it looked like he was. His mind was actually somewhere a lot less boring.

Damian hardly had a solution to his dilemma by the end of the period. He couldn’t hear what the girls were saying to each other, lacking the super hearing of his best friend. And said best friend did not speak French, so he couldn’t even ask him. Or so he thought.

“Dude, they said your name like… three times.”

Damian looked over at Jon, surprised. He furrowed his eyebrows in consideration.

“Do you know what they were saying about me?” he finally asked.

“Naw, I take Spanish, so no clue. But I don’t think they realized you were there.”

_‘Even the so-called investigative reporter believes her?’_

It was two more classes until lunch, all teachers armed with French translated lesson plans. Mlle. Bustier herself was sitting in on the classroom of the Head of the English department. They were reading Macbeth this semester, which is not the best place to start when trying to strengthen your English language skills. Those two class periods were agonizingly slow for Damian, still trying to decide what to say to the liar and how to avoid outing himself to Marinette. His personality had been completely spastic since the switch, so he had no idea how he would react when he saw her.

When the bell rang and it was time for lunch, Damian packed up his things slowly, dragging his feet. Jon started tapping his foot at how long his friend was taking. He had to take a deep breath to gather himself, which finally enlightened Superboy as to how nervous the Ice Prince of Gotham High really was.

It was time. Time to keep his eyes down and walk away quickly.


	17. Liars At Lunch Time hey hey

Despite the grumblings of her classmates, Marinette was having a wonderful time. It helped to be the only person in her class that spoke English and she could only imagine how Lila was floundering with her lie right now. That thought brought up a vindictive smile she couldn’t seem to squash back. By the time lunch came around, Marinette was far more excited about being in school than she was the day before. Of course her day had been at least a little bit ruined by Lila, but the beginning of the day proved to be very educational.

Now she knew his name. It seemed so obvious to her, but that was probably just Ladybug speaking. It all amounted to hearing the right thing backed by the right clues. It helped that she knew a bit about the Wayne family from her research and how well it matched up with what Alya had told her and the bit of digging she did on her own.

Bruce Wayne and Batman, Dick Grayson and Nightwing, Jason Todd and Red Hood (who both coincidentally appeared/reappeared in Gotham around the same time), Tim Drake and Red Robin, _Damian Wayne and Robin_. The others were a bit of a mystery at first. Until Mr. Richard Grayson willing divulged the secrets of his family dynamic to three listening teenagers. Marinette was able to fill in the blanks. So she was convinced by the end of the ride, which fueled her trust in handing over that card (an act Tikki fully supported and gushed to her about later that night). She hadn’t heard from him yet, but she had no doubt that he would contact her soon. Marinette had already decided she would end up designing for all of them. They were her soulmate’s family after all.

“Actually my youngest brother goes to Gotham High, so some of you will probably meet him,” Dick had said.

_‘Well, that makes this worlds easier.’_

All she needed to do now was talk to Damian. The main issue being: _she had no idea what he looked like._ She knew what Bruce Wayne looked like from his many public appearances. But his son? A total mystery.

“Marinette?” a timid voice grabbed her attention.

“Mylene,” she answered, prompting for the question she knew was coming.

“Could you ask someone where the lunch room is? We didn’t see it on the way in.” 

Marinette looked around the now empty classroom save Mylene and Nino, who was made to take off his hat during school hours. She had completely spaced out while thinking about her plan. Clearly her two friends had waited for her while the rest of the class had already left.

“Yes, of course,” Marinette smiled at her shy friend.

The teacher was still sitting at her desk, occasionally glancing at them expectantly. When Marinette looked over at her purposefully, and she looked back with a slight smile. She already knew Marinette spoke English, and quite well, so she posed her own question.

“How can I help you?” 

“Well, we seem to have missed the dismissal. Would you mind telling us where to find the lunch room?” 

The woman nodded and stood up, walking to the door. She pointed down the hall in the direction of the cafeteria, past a reluctant looking Damian Wayne (not that she knew that) and Jonathan Kent. Marinette poked her head out the door and followed the teacher’s gaze. When she saw the other stragglers meandering towards the cafeteria, she beckoned to the other two, thanked the teacher and started walking. One of the boys looked up at the sound of Marinette’s voice.

He gave the boy next to him a small nudge with a head bob in their direction. He looked back at the three of them. His head snapped back just as quick and started speed walking toward the now obvious sound of more than a hundred students crammed into one room. Surprised by the reaction, Jon had to jog a little (at normal person speed) to catch up to the other.

Mylene and Nino did not see that interaction at all. But Marinette certainly did. Her eyes narrowed at his back. Who else would have that kind of reaction but someone who recognized and wanted to avoid them?

But instead of saying something, she let him go. She wasn’t supposed to know who he was. This wasn’t the place.

The further down the hall Damian walked, the more he relaxed, face returning to his usual cool calm. His mask was back. He could still feel his soulmate’s personality bouncing around in his head, but he was able to hide it now.

Marinette however could feel her hands start to shake where they hung by her side.

_‘That was him. That was him. That was hi-’_

“Mari?” Nino said, concern in his tone.

She hadn’t realized she had stopped walking. While the two hadn’t noticed the two boys down the hall from them, they definitely noticed when Marinette started acting like herself again. Her personality came back with a vengeance. But she couldn’t ramble on for twenty minutes to these two like she usually would. She had someone else’s secret to keep here.

So, instead Marinette plastered on the fakest smile she could muster (that Nino saw right through) and said, “I’m good. Let’s go!”

The school, for their convenience, made temporary accounts and dealt out ID numbers for the visiting French class. Mr. Wayne was fully covering all lunch expenses, so they didn’t need to worry about that aspect of travel.

All the Dupont students had congregated to a table smack dab in the center of the room.

 _‘Looks like Lila chose the table,’_ Mari thought.

She always liked to be the _center_ of attention.

Marinette passed through the line with Nino and Mylene trailing behind her, picked up a lackluster school lunch and began scanning around for Adrien. She spotted him at the table, sitting next to Lila, who has his arm locked in her vice-like grip. 

A light frown marred her features. When Nino cleared his throat she looked at him.

“You sitting with us?” he asked.

He knew Marinette usually went out of her way to avoid sitting anywhere near Lila (and now he was starting to understand why). But usually Adrien was available to sit with her. Since Adrien seemed a little… occupied, there weren’t really any other options for her. She glanced over to where Damian was avoiding looking her way. Unless she really wanted to make his life complicated.

… nah, not yet.

So instead, she nodded her affirmation and followed the two over to where the rest of the class was seated.

Alya brightened up considerably when she saw both her boyfriend/soulmate and her best friend coming over to sit. It was always a treat when Mari sat with them instead of going home for lunch. But now it was three straight weeks of sitting together!

Marinette gave Adrien a sympathetic look as she set down her tray next to Max. Nino, of course, sat down by Alya, and Mylene joined Ivan down at the end of the row, leaning slightly on his arm. The space directly across from Lila was still open.

Adrien looked like he was trying to either wriggle out of the liar’s grip subtlety or he was inventing a new form of dancing. Somehow every other class mate seemed to miss how uncomfortable he was.

One person sitting near them who wasn’t in their class was a girl who was talking animatedly with Kim. It appeared she spoke French well to a certain degree. Not as good as Marinette’s complementary English skills were, but understandable. She had her hair pulled up in a high ponytail and she wore a black Gotham University t-shirt peeking out from under her school shirt. Marinette looked from the girl to her best friend who was sitting across the table from her. Alya’s face lit up as she prepared to introduce this new face.

“Annie, this is Marinette, our class president!” Alya informed her.

“Oh!” the girl, Annie, said excitedly. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Annie. I’m the president of the French club.”

For a moment, Marinette’s expression was harsh and calculating before that was crushed back and a warm smile took it’s place. That strange battle for personality dominance was completely lost on most of the class, but the three that knew about her soulmate quest saw it.

Realizing that more people were starting to pay attention to the other girls, Lila upped her performance. She started loudly talking again about her soulmate and how sweet and lovely he was. While they all, save the usual few, looked on with curiosity and admiration, Annie slowly became more and more confused. She tried to hide her frown. She asked Damian yesterday if he’d met his soulmate and he said no. And yet here this girl was today claiming they were soulmates since before Damian even came to Gotham. It was clear most of the kids around her were holding onto the girl’s every word.

“He invited me out to dinner tonight with his family,” she was claiming.

Annie inconspicuously looked back to where she knew Damian was sitting. He was actively looking away from the French class but Jon looked over with interest, almost like he could hear what they were saying. She caught his eye and he glanced away, pretending not to have seen her. She knew she shouldn’t allow this girl to keep lying. Damian wasn’t her friend, per se, but it would be rude to let this continue right in front of her. Her French wasn’t perfect though, so anything she tried to say could easily be misconstrued. But she knew for a fact that Damian spoke it quite well. Perhaps he could come set the record straight.

But that was a terribly nasty and harsh thing to do to a girl she hardly knew. But, by accident, she again made eye contact with the class president who raised her eyebrows back at her.

Marinette stood up, relaxed and calm and walked around the table to where she sat.

“They don’t speak English,” she said, smiling warmly, as she claimed the open seat next to her.

Annie was surprised for a moment but nodded, confirming she knew that already.

“You know she is lying?”

Annie nodded again before speaking.

“He goes here. I know for a fact he hasn’t met his soulmate yet,” she filled the girl in.

Marinette nodded knowingly, which took her by surprise. It did not seem like news to her that a billionaire’s son was amongst her classmates.

“That’s him, correct?” she tipped her head in the direction of the heir, raven hair swaying in response to the movement.

Confirming that she was correct with a quick peek over her shoulder, Annie looked at the French girl more analytically than before. It was odd for people to recognize the younger Wayne boys. They typically stayed out of the media.

“You recognize him?” she asked.

Marinette denied that.

“His brother was our tour guide yesterday,” was all she provided as to an explanation.

And they left it there. But still on her mind was the ease at which the Italian girl told her falsehoods.

“Is she always like this? Lying to her friends?” Annie asked.

Taking in a deep breath, she answered a simple 'yes’ matter-of-factly.

Oh.

“I’ve tried to tell them. It wasn’t well received. So, I do what I can to minimize the damage and I move on.”

“Do you want- … should I get him?”

Marinette furrowed her brow.

“Damian?”

Marinette saw the boy her soulmate sat with stiffen up ever so slightly. He was listening. She didn’t know how he was doing it, but he was definitely listening. Her eyes narrowed. The fact was only confirmed when he looked directly at her, not thinking she’d be looking at him. His eyes blew wide open and his head dropped like a stone. _Definitely_ not looking.

“You know what? Yes. I’d _love_ to see what will happen.”


	18. Last Chapter Sounds Like A Magic Treehouse Title

Jon was able to warn Damian far before the president of the French club even started to get up. He was consistently listening to the group, but was only able to understand Marinette and Annie’s conversation. It was odd to hear people talking about his friend so openly, most people avoided the topic like they avoided the subject himself.

He couldn’t help but stare over at the French girl so casually mentioning anything about his best friend. But when she stared right back his heart nearly leapt out of his chest. There’s no way she could know he was listening, right?

But true to the conversation he was pretending not to have heard, the girl stood and started to make her way over to where the two sat. So, to hold up pretenses, Jon struck up a completely irrelevant conversation with a reluctant Damian. They knew they were about to be interrupted.

“Ah, here she comes.”

She approached their table, tentatively stopping in front of the two sitting there. Jon ceased whatever he was saying to look at her. Damian raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to state her business, even though he absolutely knew what she was about to say already.

“There’s a girl over there claiming to know you, Damian. She said she’s known you since you were seven. She said you’re soulmates.”

Damian just grimaced like he’d been expecting it (which he had), which surprised the girl. Then he nodded.

“My brother led their tour yesterday. He warned me about that,” he said.

Oh.

“You didn’t tell me that,” Jon said, a little offended.

The look on his face was just so done, eternally tired of everything already. He suddenly stood, causing Annie to jump back a little. He could see Marinette watching with great interest from over Annie’s shoulder. She raised an eyebrow as he again avoided her eye. 

“I suppose I should go sort that out. Go back and sit with Marinette.”

Annie opened her mouth to say something along the lines of “how do you know her name”, but Damian shot her a look that immediately wilted her confidence. She turned instead and hurried back over to where his soulmate was seated.

“Is Marinette -”

“Let’s make this quick,” he cut him off.

Jon would revisit that question later.

He walked over, his mask firmly in place. Any other Gotham High students milling around the cafeteria fell back as he walked by towards the middle of the room. Conveniently, no one was sitting directly across from the liar, so he planted himself right there with a deadpan expression. Jon stood just behind him, like moral support, since he didn’t speak French. Damian nodded to her and Adrien, who was still in her grasp. When he sat, her story faltered in surprise, but when she saw he was paying great attention, she began again with even greater enthusiasm. Adrien stalled his method of escape for only a few seconds when the newcomer took his seat, scanning him quickly. In those few seconds, he looked over at Mari, who he could tell was _very_ interested in whatever was about to happen. So, instead of resuming his attempt to get away from Lila, he watched too.

“The restaurant he’s taking me to is five star. I’ll have to pick up a fancy dress and of course my Damian has agreed to pay for everything. He’s so sweet like that!”

As the girls around the table continued their fawning, the liar’s hidden smugness grew. Even the Gotham kids would pay attention to her, though she wasn’t quite sure he could understand the French as he had yet to respond to her story accordingly. He just sat there with a very serious and almost dangerous look in his eyes.

At the edge of his vision, Marinette leaned forward in anticipation. This was not originally part of the plan (which included avoiding Marinette at school altogether) but he was already here and he’d be damned if he backed down now.

Annie was biting her nails nervously, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Nino looked on warily, having started doubting Lila after the events of yesterday.

“And Jackson Todd, Dami’s older brother, even gave me a ride on his motorcycle-”

“It’s Jason,” Damian interrupted softly.

Everyone just stared at him. Alix finally understood and she was ecstatic at this turn of events. Lila suddenly looked uncomfortable, not having expected him to say anything, let alone correct her. Adrien looked almost excited at the prospect of what was about to happen but he carefully schooled his expression, after all, Lila still worked for Gabriel, so he couldn’t display his dislike for her outright.

“Ha… right. Of course. _Jason_ gave me a ride on his motorcycle,” she finished with a weak smile.

Before any of the teens around them could say a word, Damian spoke again, the same soft intensity.

“You said you are Damian Wayne’s soulmate? How long was it you’ve known him?”

It was a trap, she could tell. But, even backed into a corner, Lila thought she could lie her way out.

“Since we were seven. That’s not really public knowledge so if you could not spread that around-”

“In Gotham?” he prompted.

He saw a twinge of annoyance in her face.

“Yes.”

He could tell Alya was getting a little upset with his challenge of Lila’s words, always the first to defend Lila against attack. The whole class was on edge, trying to figure out this stranger’s angle.

“Damian Wayne only started living in Gotham when he was ten.”

Everyone around the table froze except for Marinette, who sat back in her seat with a slight smile.

“Well, he was visiting his father when we met-”

“I met him when I was ten.”

Lila paused again, scrambling for something to say in response to that. Alya cut into the conversation.

“You met Damian Wayne when you were ten?” she asked, a little confused.

“I am Damian Wayne.”

Rose gasped.

Damian grabbed his school ID out of his backpack, very obliviously displaying the name Damian Wayne.

Finally, Lila’s grip went slack around Adrien’s arm and he was able to yank his arm away and immediately stood and walked around to sit next to his Lady, who was suppressing her satisfaction.

Deciding that was probably enough, Damian stood up again, wordlessly tucking his ID away again and glanced around. Every single Gotham High student was staring at what just happened, wishing to the heavens themselves that they could understand what just went down. Marinette locked eyes with him rather deliberately and he couldn’t bring himself to look away. She smiled a little bit as his face went a bit pink. Lila noticed the interaction and tucked the knowledge away in the vault. She could still save herself yet.

Annie wore a pained expression as the two left to return to their original table.

“Lila…” Alya whispered. “Was anything you were saying true?”

Rose, seated a few people down, looked devastated that Lila had been lying about her soulmate the entire time.

“No, no! This was just a game! We like to pretend that we don’t recognize each other in public. It was supposed to be funny, I swear!” she scrambled.

“Well, it wasn’t,” Alya said, her anger growing.

Was Marinette really right this whole time? She had never liked dealing with the Italian girl. At first Alya assumed it was because of her infatuation with Adrien, but when that became a really solid friendship, Marinette still avoided Lila like the plague. And of course, Mari had her own soulmate now.

Juleka moved to comfort Rose who was starting to cry. All of her classmates just stared, clearly hurt.

Play it off, play it off. But she couldn’t, and she knew that. So, she’ll sacrifice this lie to save face. It’ll be fine.

Fake tears welled up in her eyes.

“Okay! I admit it! I lied about him being my soulmate! I haven’t found mine yet and I was super jealous of all of you,” she sobbed. “I didn’t want to be the only one alone. Can you ever forgive me?”

The poor sheep that filled the class immediately softened their glares and the hurt lessened. ‘Poor Lila’, they all thought. All not including the two heroes of Paris, Alix, Nino, Kim, and Chlòe. But Nino was more focused on Alya’s feelings that just experienced whiplash than Lila’s clear attempt to save her own skin.

_'You’ve got to be kidding me.’_

Marinette dug her fingernails into her hand to keep herself from laughing out loud. Incredulous laughter, naturally. Even after that display, so much of the class was still securely under Lila’s thumb, slowly being crushed by the weight of her untruths.


	19. I'm At Your Window Let Me In

"You're blushing."

"No, I'm not."

"I thought you said she didn't know who you were."

"She doesn't."

"Then what was that all about?"

Damian frowned. He honestly had no idea how to explain that look she gave him. She clearly make eye contact deliberately but if she didn't know him, she would have no reason to do that. It was odd. She _smiled_ at him. A cute little acknowledgement only for him. Just thinking about it almost brought a smile to his face.

But the look in her eyes, blue just as he was expecting, was knowing. Clearly she was a few steps ahead of where he thought she was. But Damian had no way of knowing what she knew until he spoke to her. So, the plan had to be set by that afternoon so he could talk to her that night.

"I think that girl is crying."

"Tt. Should have picked a more believable lie, then."

The aftermath that the two boys left in their wake was not nearly as dramatic as Marinette had hoped. Naturally her ultra forgiving classmates jumped right onto Lila's newest lie. All she had to do was introduce some crocodile tears into the equation and the rest of the class was just putty in her hands. She was surprised the girl admitted that Damian wasn't actually her soulmate rather than continuing to insist that this was just a ploy to protect her from the paparazzi, which, in the words of Chlòe Bourgeois, was an 'utterly ridiculous' notion in itself.

Nevertheless, it was good that one of Lila's many lies was disproven. It planted a seed of doubt. Through the right nurturing, it will bring it all down around her. Some people would be crushed, but better now than a few years down the line when all their futures are ruined since they relied far too long on the promises of what Lila could give them.

The rest of the day passed just like the first half with the added bonus of Lila falling over herself to fake apologize to all her classmates, save Marinette, for lying about having a soulmate. Poor Annie had to deal with the occasional bitter look cast her way in class since Lila put together that she had gone to fetch Damian when she got up from the table.

Nino caught up to Marinette easily after class.

"Mari?"

"Yes?"

He paused, trying to decide how to word his question before just blurting it out.

"Did you plan that whole thing in the lunch room?" he asked.

Marinette stopped walking towards the bus to pick them up and thoughtfully straightened her shirt.

"No. That was not what I thought would happen when I went to lunch today."

With that statement she gave him a small smile and continued on, greeting Adrien who was standing in a small cluster of their peers. Everyone's faces were... not unhappy, per se. But certainly cautious. Lila was wisely staying silent for once.

Marinette, from her vantage beside Adrien, watched as Damian Wayne walked out to a waiting car and drove away. He could feel her eyes on him, but he resisted the urge to return her gaze. All in good time.

Upon arriving at home, Damian had lost all control of his expression. He was excited to finally be on the last few steps of his plan. He would see her tonight. A quick hack into hotel security cameras (courtesy of Tim) from that hallway showed that she didn't have a roommate, so he didn't need to worry about that.

Still standing in the foyer, Jason walked in, book in hand. He pulled a face when he looked at the Demon Spawn.

"Stop smiling. It's weird"

"Screw you, Todd."

Back at the hotel, all three students dispersed to their designated rooms, eager for the few hours of down time after that long day in class.

Marinette marched straight to her room, no one coming forward to ask her any questions just yet. Sitting all day with no akuma attack to interrupt always put her and Adrien on edge. The longer they went in between attacks, the more suspicious they became. Long gaps always led to brutal akumas. At least in the first year. Since then, Hawkmoth has softened his approach in both frequency and intensity. Neither of them knew what he was up to but they didn't want to be unprepared for when he made his comeback. So, this started the tradition of sparring. At first, before they revealed their identities, they would go rooftop to rooftop in costume, jumping around trying to catch the other off guard. It kept them alert and on their toes.

Since the reveal, they have been able to fit in more humanly practical matches, using Master Fu's backroom to get in out-of-costume training. They always ended looking like cracked glowsticks due to their platonic bonds (it didn't show when they were transformed as a way to protect their identities). So that would force them to have to wait around and have tea with the Guardian to wait for the light to fade. That led to Marinette beginning her training to take over for Fu as the new Guardian. She wasn't quite finished with her training, still learning the language, magic, and traditions. Master Fu was insistent that she not officially take on the responsibility until she was an adult anyway.

When Mari got back to her hotel room, she grabbed a pair of yoga pants and a loose t-shirt. They had a gym with a sparring mat at this hotel and she was determined to use it. She sent Adrien a quick message on her texting app and grabbed her gym sneakers.

"Where are you going, Marinette?" Tikki asked.

She smiled at the kwamii as she traded her hair ribbon for a much more secure tie.

"This hotel has a gym. Can't fall behind on my training Tikki!"

There was a lull in their conversation as Tikki searched for the right words. She had been listening the whole time during lunch.

"I hope that girl Annie doesn't get into too much trouble with Lila," she said finally.

"Don't worry Tikki. I can already tell everyone is getting suspicious. This won't be much longer."

Tikki nodded slightly.

"It's a good thing Annie could speak French and knew Damian Wayne was there. No one ever believes me when I point out her obvious lies."

Tikki looked at her chosen with understanding.

"I'm just hoping she doesn't find a way to pin this all on you. Especially when she figures out that he's actually *your* soulmate!"

Her phone pinged with Adrien's confirmation to meet her at the gym.

**Minou: sure just let me finish talking to Nino**

**Bug: you got it cat boy**

**Minou:** 😹

Adrien looked up from the phone back to his best friend. Nino was frowning at his shoes.

"She obviously left Marinette on purpose! I talked to Alya on the bus and she said that Lila had told her she needed to talk to you and left her with the others. But she told us that Alya was with Marinette!"

Adrien looked on as Nino ran through the details, not giving his input quite yet. He knew what she did, but he wanted Nino to decide on his own before he confirmed. He rubbed his eyes under his glasses before freezing. Slowly, he made eye contact with Adrien across the space between the two beds.

"Marinette has been right this whole time hasn't she? Lila's been lying about everything."

Adrien said nothing. Just nodded.

"Did you know, Adrien?"

He nodded again and Nino slumped.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Look at how well that worked out for Marinette."

Nino had the great decency to look ashamed as he thought of all the times they wrote off Marinette's accusations as simple jealousy.

"I gotta talk to Alya, man. See you later?"

"Sure, Nino," he said. "Remember she's sharing with Lila."

Nino's eyes hardened and he gave one final nod of confirmation before jumping up and running out the door, key in his pocket still.

Plagg took his opportunity to make an appearance.

"Finally the sheep are catching on. Now, where's my precious camembert?"

"I haven't gotten any yet, Plagg."

"You are a terror and a sadist."

He ignored the jab as he rifled through his suitcase for his athletic shorts. Once he found what he wanted, he changed and walked out the door, Plagg taking his place in his sweatshirt pocket.

Marinette was already in the gym wrapping her hands and wrists when he arrived. She looked up at him and smiled when he set his sweatshirt (sans Plagg as he had relocated himself) on the ground by her purse (complete Tikki and Plagg).

"So... Damian Wayne?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, a slight smile gracing her face. Instead of answering, she just got into a defensive stance.

Meanwhile, Nino had explained everything he had realized to a listening and angry Alya. She immediately started a group chat on her texting app to inform the rest of the class of the betrayal. But for now, they wouldn't move to confront her. They would wait.

Dinner was a very tense affair, everyone avoiding Lila's eyes and avoiding conversation. She could tell something had happened, but she wasn't sure what had changed. She _knew_ Nino wasn't smart enough to figure out what she did on his own and Adrien certainly wouldn't tell him unless he wanted to get in trouble with his father.

Every time she had tried to say something to Alya, she was met with short, clipped answers and a poorly hidden glare.

If she was getting the cold shoulder, Marinette was getting the opposite. Every once in a while, someone would walk up to her and say something in hushed tones. She smiled brightly at all of them and Lila's jealousy flared to astronomical heights. She had to move quickly to fix this.

Later that night, after retiring to their rooms, Alya was still acting frigid to her. Obviously that wouldn't do.

In a desperate attempt to win back Alya's waning favor, Lila snatched the first ludacris offer she could think of. The lovely dress Alya had brought back on their first night here could be a great segway into far better things Lila could provide.

"Alya, sweetie?"

Alya just hummed that she heard, not bothering to turn around fully.

"This dress is amazing!"

She waited for the girl to respond but she didn't, choosing instead to continue laying out an outfit for tomorrow. Lila's forced smile dropped off her face at Alya's show of apathy. This was her way of showing that she was still mad about the lie she had to sacrifice earlier that day.

"You know what this dress reminds me of?"

Alya was suddenly quite interested. She turned around and sat on her bed, waiting for Lila to go on. Her smile returned at the blogger's reaction.

"You know that mysterious designer everyone's been talking about? The one that made some of Jagged Stone's tour pieces and did that dress for Clara Nightingale she wore in her last talk show appearance?"

Nodding, Alya affirmed she followed Lila's little story introduction.

"MDC."

"Right!"

Lila silently cursed, hoping that Alya wouldn't know more than she did about the designer (haha), otherwise this lie would be a bust and dig her an even bigger hole.

"This totally looks like his style. If you like this, I could ask him to commission something for you?"

Alya froze, just like she had at the lunch table. She could tell what the girl was insinuating but she didn't want to believe it.

"Commission something for me?"

"Oh, yes! Don't tell anyone this, but... I know him! He's one of my mom's friends. I even gave him some inspiration and pointers for Jagged's new stage outfit, since I know him too."

After a few moments of struggling, Alya finally managed to school her expression into one that didn't read "I will murder you in your sleep". It was a good thing the little liar wasn't looking at her or she would be rightfully scared to go to bed that night. Lila has just made the biggest mistake of the day, because now Alya knew first hand.

Through her clenched teeth she managed, "You say you know MDC?"

Lila finally faced her, smiling brightly. She nodded.

_'Your façade is cracking.'_

Lila's head tilted with interest as they heard a bang from the hall. It wasn't from next door, but perhaps the next door over? Perhaps the room of the one Marinette Dupain-Cheng? But Alya just wanted a minute to fully compose herself.

"One of us should go check on that," Alya said, still trying to reign in her anger.

"I'll go," Lila said, trying to be as helpful as possible to regain favor.

She stepped out the door of her room and took a few steps down the hall. Alix and Mylene were poking their heads out the door, also curious as to what was going on in their class president's room.

"Don't worry, girls! I'm checking on her," Lila assured them.

Alix and Mylene was not at all happy with that and continued to watch Lila meander towards Mari's door. Their stares made the hair stand up on the back of her neck. She wouldn't be able to say what she wanted to with them standing right there. From the other side of the door, Lila could hear whispering. Strange since their class president should be rooming by herself.

Alix and Mylene looked on as Lila knocked lightly on the door with a strained smile. A few seconds of shuffling later and the door opened as far as the slide bar lock would allow. Marinette's face immediately soured at the sight of who greeted her. Nevertheless, seeing no real threat, she opened the door fully, giving Lila sight to an empty room behind her, at which Lila frowned. She was certain she had caught Marinette in something.

Marinette gestured to the watching girls that all was well, so Alix followed Mylene's and retreated into the room. As soon as the audience was gone, Lila's smile dropped away to reveal her sneer.

"Hiding something, are we, Marinette?"

"I don't have any idea what you are talking about Rossi," Marinette answered icily.

Lila's eyes narrowed at the girl standing in the doorway, Nightwing listening curiously from behind the bathroom door. She didn't see anyone else in the room, so instead she turned her attention to the bored looking girl in front of her.

"You planned that. Admit it," Lila demanded.

Marinette didn't even try to suppress the eye roll that followed that question.

"How could I have possibly planned that? I've never met Damian Wayne before today." Both of the hidden vigilantes tensed up at the words. "And it's certainly not my fault you can't pick a sustainable lie."

Lila's face turned bright red with anger.

"I saw the look he gave you." Nightwing listened a touch closer at that. "Don't test me any further Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Or have you forgotten that I can make your life a living hell?"

Robin was getting antsy from his place behind the corner arm chair. He didn't like that this girl, the one who was lying about _him_ earlier, was now threatening his soulmate. But he stilled when he heard Marinette laugh humorlessly.

"I don't think so, Rossi. Your grip on this class may be strong, but I think you may find after today its been _irreversibly damaged_."

And, with that, Marinette shut the door in the liar's face.


	20. Well Hello Hello

On one side of the door was a disgruntled girl who thought her house of cards was on the verge of collapse but had no idea that it had already blown her way with the wind. On the other side was a slightly panicky designer who almost got caught with two vigilantes in her room.

Marinette leaned on the wall by the door and listened. It was another minute before Lila finally walked back to her room.

“Is she gone,” whispered the bathroom door.

She started nodding before remembering they couldn’t actually see her.

“She’s gone.”

It was almost comical to see Robin climb out over her arm chair and Nightwing to awkwardly emerge from the bathroom. She looked at them as they stood side by side by the window.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Nightwing’s face split into a grin. He extended his hand excitedly to shake. She took it and returned his smile with a bit more trepidation. Robin was tense, still standing a small distance away from her.

“So, I’m Nightwing!” he said as quietly as he could without curbing his enthusiasm.

“Pleasure to meet you! I’m Marinette.”

Nightwing, still smiling, looked over at his brother expectantly. When the boy still said nothing, he gestured to him and began to introduce him.

“And this is-”

“Robin.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow at her soulmate. He finally took a step forward and held out his gloved hand.

“It would appear… we are soulmates,” he said stiffly.

She reached out and grabbed his hand, looking serious, before yanking hard and pulled him into a tight hug. Too stunned to react properly, he just stared forward at the wall. With an awkward pat to her back she finally let go. Nightwing didn’t know whether or not to step in, standing shocked at the display.

“Sorry!” she giggled. “I’m just so excited to meet you!”

Her smile was so bright, he was fighting all of his returning instincts to smile back. She wasn’t deterred by his stony expression, however, smile persisting.

Nightwing himself was suppressing a smile.

“Well,” he interjected. “I’m just the chaperone. So I’ll be up there,” he pointed to the roof across the street. “If you need me.”

With that, he leapt out the window. Marinette just watched as he did a series of flips, jumps, and a bunch of swinging to make it to his destination.

“A bit dramatic, don’t you think?” she asked.

Robin looked over at the girl, still watching the window where his brother jumped out.

“He’s always like that.”

The silence of the room contrasted greatly with the ambient noises of the city below. They both looked around the room, Marinette tapping her fingers on her legs and Robin mostly still as it was ingrained in him from a very young age not to fidget.

“Would you like to sit?”

He thought about that for a fleeting moment. It would be strange to remain standing. He didn’t want to make a worse impression than he must have already so he gave a short nod. With that she gave a wave to the chair in the corner as she sat on the edge of the bed. He pulled the chair a little closer, bringing it out of the shadows. And then he sat, utility belt clinking softly.

“So… you’re a super hero?”

She already knew the answer to that.

“More like a vigilante,” he corrected, a softer tone than he would usually take.

“Ah. I can’t even imagine.”

“Imagine what?”

Marinette blanched for a moment, unprepared to comment on her own words. She _could_ imagine being a hero. She did it every day in Paris. What she could not imagine was not having something to fall back on and protect you.

“You don’t have powers, right?”

He seemed to raise and eyebrow beneath the mask before nodding slightly, unsure if that was something he wanted to completely divulge. Most criminals were fairly certain the Bats had no super powers but it hadn’t ever been fully confirmed. Marinette continued.

“You go out every night to fight crime. To help your city. And you don’t have any powers to protect you. You risk so much for a place that has criminals pouring out of every door looking for someone smaller to beat up and take from. I can’t imagine risking my life every night like you do.”

Robin just stood in silence and took that in. Most people wouldn’t be willing to do what they do. Not for millions of dollars.

“It’s not so bad,” was what he finally decided to say.

Marinette’s brow furrowed at the clear underexaggeration. She knew how it was and ‘not so bad’ was not it. And so she said so… without revealing her identity.

“But that’s a huge weight on your shoulders! I cannot think of a single person I know that, when it comes right down to it, would actually be willing to put in the training and take the precautions that must come with being a vigilante like you! There’s no possible way its 'not that bad’!”

Throughout her little passionate tirade, Damian started to look closer at this girl. Every word she spoke drew him in a little more. There was no detail about her that wasn’t compelling, from her bright blue eyes to the light freckles across the bridge of her nose.

'She’s beautiful,’ he thought.

If she noticed him starting to stare, she didn’t say. She just kept on speaking about how admirable it was to take one seemingly impossible job like he and his family had. A great respect for him and his family was established early in the one sided conversation. From there, he started picking up little details about her. For one thing, she was short. He had a good bit of height over her head when they stood and could only imagine how she would look standing next to Superman. Despite her height, he knew she was skilled, having taken Dick down when they switched a few weeks before and by her short sleeves he could tell she had muscle. He also saw the way she had set her bag down gently, even stressed from his presence and the knocking at the door. So clearly she took great care of her things. Also the way she spoke, with passion and urgency but still soft, taking care not to disturb her neighbors and alert her classmate’s. Little details that might not matter so much to others but for some reason meant the world to him. She was just… _good_. He hardly knew her but could already tell he didn’t want to push this one away.

Even going through all the new things he was learning about the girl in front of him, he was still listening to her speech, delivered in her French accent that was already beginning to relax him. Tension left his shoulders and he started to lean forward as he listened to her speak.

“I mean, Ladybug and Chat Noir have protection magic in their suits so they don’t need to worry about falling-”

“Ladybug and Chat Noir?” he cut her off.

Startled, she blinked a few times.

“Yes. Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

“Who are they?”

Marinette froze. Bewildered, she just stared at him.

“Paris’s super heroes,” she said slowly.

Robin, confused, asked “What heroes?”

“You seriously don’t know about them?”

He shook his head, so Marinette turned around and opened the clasp of her purse, the same one she carried when he switched with her, and took out her phone. Quickly typing something out, she pulled up the Ladyblog, the site he had originally dismissed as a web show run by her friend Alya.

“This… this is real?”

Marinette nodded earnestly.

“I’ll have m-… Batman look into this. Perhaps he will contact the League and rectify this.”

She frowned a little before shaking her head.

“I think Chat Noir and Ladybug can handle it. It might be more dangerous for new players to just show up out of no where. Quite frankly, I’m glad the League hasn’t intervened. Could you imagine if one of them we’re akumatized?” she raised her eyebrows incredulously. “Hawkmoth has calmed down anyhow. We’ve been seeing less and less of him.”

“I see.”

He did see. But Marinette suddenly remembered that Robin’s actual father, _Batman_ , was part of the League.

“Its not that I don’t think the League can handle it, though! I’m sure they are very strong and could definitely help! It’s just it would be very dangerous if any of them got akumatized because they were upset or because-” she cut herself off.

She was starting to ramble again. Marinette brought up a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose.

“Ugh! I thought I’d kicked that habit _years_ ago,” she said aloud in French.

Robin cleared his throat awkwardly.

“I can speak… French.”

“Oh… right… I can’t believe I forgot that,” Marinette mumbled, blushing crimson.

She leaned back and turned her head away, leaving the profile of her face lit by the lamp she sat in front of. It formed a little halo. The League of Assassin’s didn’t really put a lot of stock into religious studies, but…

'She looks like an angel.’

Conversation came to a standstill as the two couldn’t think of anything else to say. Sure they were soulmates but without revealing identities it was hard to find anything in common. Marinette wasn’t quite ready to admit her own superhero moonlighting. And how do you start a conversation with “I know your secret identity lmao”? Robin didn’t want to ask about whatever that was with Lila. He didn’t want to see that frown come back to her face.

“It’s getting late,” Robin said finally.

“I guess it is,” Marinette looked a little disappointed.

“I have to go on patrol now. I’ll see you again soon, Malake.”

With that, he followed his brother’s example and took a dive from the open window faster than was necessary. Almost like he was in an embarrassing situation and needed to escape real quick.

“Malake?” Marinette whispered.

She looked over at Tikki emerging from her purse, haphazardly placed on the bed, in question. The kwamii just smiled a little knowing smile and pulled out a chocolate chip cookie from dinner.


	21. The Secret The Knight Brings

Alya was thinking well into the night. Thinking about all the things Lila had said. All the things Marinette had said about Lila. The way she avoided her. Avoiding gatherings where Lila was sure to be and outright refusing events Lila proposed in the first place.

Napkin.

Lila claimed she had a sprained wrist, but it took all of five seconds for Marinette to disprove that theory. The speed and nonchalance at which Lila snatched the balled up napkin out of the air clearly shows there was no way that her wrist was really hurt. Alya closed her eyes and placed herself back at the lunch table. Lila had to think about it before she started to act like it hurt. Then she came up with a lie about napkins having the ability to _gouge out people’s eyes???_

Jagged Stone.

She claimed that she rescued Jagged Stone’s kitten of a runway. Marinette actually knows Jagged Stone, having designed his favorite Paris sunglasses and his last few album covers. Not to mention his most recent tour outfit! Every time that girl went to take measurements or discuss lyric direction (for style influences) she would spill the deets, off the record of course. Jagged apparently talked liberally about his one and only pet crocodile, who he had been keeping for years, longer than feasibly possible for Lila to have saved a previous pet. And that he would km d write a song about her?? Jagged Stone had never dedicated a song to someone other than Ladybug and his fiancée!

Tinnitus.

She had originally said she had tinnitus, making it necessary to sit in the front. To accommodate for Lila they moved Marinette to the back.

Alya cringed at the memory of that. They hadn’t waited to see if Mari was ok with sitting in the back. They just did it and expected it to be just fine and dandy. But it wasn’t, causing the first rift Alya noticed between the two girls. As more details of that day came flooding back, the reporter could see exactly why Marinette did not trust her.

Every time she was asked, the “tinnitus” switched ears. And by the end of the day it was fine? That Ladybug had fixed it? Everyone knows that Ladybug’s “Miraculous Ladybug” couldn’t fix preexisting conditions. If it could, Paris would have the least amount of health issues in the world.

Ladybug.

From the get go, Lila had come into Paris claiming this big connection no on else had, jumping right into spreading the news that she was best friends with a superhero! But Lila had only just moved to Paris. Before that she was in Italy with her mother. And before that somewhere else, constantly moving around from embassy to embassy.

She slipped her phone off the bedside table, dimming the brightness so Lila wouldn’t notice, and so she didn’t blind herself after lying in the dark for so long.

One new message. 12:52 am

**_❤ Nino ❤: another thing_ **

**_LB Connoisseur: spill_ **

**_❤ Nino ❤: adrien said he saw LB talk to lila back when you posted the first interview_ **

**_LB connoisseur: …_ **

**_Alya: you know what I’m about to ask you_ **

**_Sunshine ☀️: I suppose I do_ **

**_Alya: so spill_ **

**_Sunshine ☀️: ladybug confronted Lila the day you posted that interview_ **

**_Sunshine ☀️: called her out for being a liar and told her to stop_ **

**_Sunshine ☀️: guess it didnt take_ **

_**Sunshine ☀️: bc she continued to try and convince me she was the descendant of and new holder of Volpina, the fox Miraculous holder** _

_**Alya: WHAT** _

That made her blood boil. As the actual holder of the fox Miraculous, even as a temporary hero, another person claiming her achievements set her teeth on edge, anger glinting in her eyes despite the dark of the room. She had been defending this girl, this LIAR, for how long?! But Alya was stronger and smarter than Lila. Now that the dam had broken there was no hiding from her.

All the snide comments.

“Some people weren’t meant to have soulmates.”

She had glanced down at Marinette when she said it. That was directed at Marinette. _That was directed at Marinette._

‘I’m gonna tear Lila into pieces.’

How could she ever have fallen for anything this girl has been saying? Alya, with every passing thought, was astonished that she had ever defended Lila’s lies. Even worse, every time Marinette pointed out all these obvious lies, now that she saw right through them, they had written her off. What kind of beat friend immediately takes rge side of a girl she hardly knew over one she was supposed to stand by.

Jealous.

The just said Marinette was jealous because she liked Adrien and so did Lila. So, obviously Marinette doesn’t like Lila because she’s competition. But Marinette set Adrien up with Kagami gracefully. How could Alya have missed that?

She had to apologize. She had to apologize _now_.

Alya looked at the clock. It was 1:23 in the morning. She knew Marinette always struggled to fall asleep on school nights. Kwamii knows why. So, quietly so as to not wake the liar, Alya crept out of bed and grabbed her key card off the night stand. Slowly making her way past Lila’s bed, she snuck out the door, softly closing it behind her to muffle the click.

She padded down the hallway to where she knew Marinette was sleeping. Where Lila was _supposed_ to be sleeping. Sick to her stomach, she realized that was probably another tactic to make Marinette miserable. That and the whole situation after the Wayne Enterprises tour, it was clear what Lila was trying to do. Now that they all knew, it was obvious.

The frown on her face deepened as she stopped outside Marinette’s door. It was silent on the other side. If she was sleeping, Alya would feel bad waking her up, so her hand hesitated. At last, she decided to knock softly. If she was awake, Mari would hear it. If she was sleeping, it wouldn’t wake her.

In response to Alya’s knock came a slight shuffling. A pause. Then the door opened, revealing Marinette, standing in her pajamas and a pencil through her hair bun.

“Alya! Is something wrong? Are you okay?” Marinette asked in concern.

Alya’s shoulders slumped and she shook her head. True to form, Marinette stepped aside and beckoned her best friend inside, sure to offer some form of comfort.

Inside the room, the bed was still made. If the silver smudging on her hands was anything to go by, it didn’t appear that Marinette had even tried to go to sleep yet.

“She said she knew MDC.”

How’s that for an opener?

“What?” Marinette furrowed her eyebrows.

“I’m so sorry. I should have known.”

And just like that, she could tell Marinette understood. She had no idea how her best friend did that. She was always the first to pick things up and catch on. An eye for detail.

Marinette’s forehead smoothed and she turned and walked over to sit on the bed. She patted the space beside her as she pulled her legs up criss crossed under her. Dejectedly, Alya followed.

“I should have listened to you.”

Marinette stayed silent, as if waiting for her to finish. She appreciated that. Marinette always knew just what to say and do.

“I made a mistake. I took her at her word when I should have been doing my job to get people the information they actually deserve.”

Marinette nodded. She wouldn’t deny or defend. She knew the truth already and was prepared to hear it again in a new voice. And so that voice spoke. On and on. All the information Alya had gathered just that night. All the mistakes she’d made and the class had made. And she apologized. And Marinette accepted.

They fell asleep there in the dimly lit room, Marinette’s sketchbook still open on the corner desk, blouse half sketched out, and Lila, sleeping sound and unaware a few doors down.

**

Robin turned his comms back on as he landed safely a few buildings over. He listened to the bombarding voices on the other end, asking him how it went and what happened. Without a word to any of them, he switched it back off.


	22. So, Dad's a Snitch

Moving quickly and quietly, Damian went about his usual patrol route, even though Batman exempt him from it considering the circumstances. Nearly twenty minutes after he had left his soulmate's room he could feel a silent presence watching from nearby. He walked normally to the edge of the roof as if deciding where to jump next, even though he had jumped off this particular building several times before.

No longer silent, the presence shifted behind him. In less than a second, he had freed a birdarang from his belt and threw it with precision.

He turned to face his tail with a frown settling back on his face as though it missed him while it was with Marinette. Catwoman stood there, an eyebrow raised at the bladed projectile stuck in the wall right by her head.

"That was a warning shot."

She looked back at him, a slight smile on her face.

"I heard you had an eventful night," she said innocently.

Face twinging with annoyance, Damian turned back to the skyline. He heard her step closer before sitting down on the short wall at the edge of the roof a few feet down from him.

"Da-"

"No names in the field."

"Robin."

He finally looked over at her, signaled by the persistently soft tone of voice she had. Her gaze was set out over Gotham still, despite his turn of the head. In her hand, she was idly fiddling with a small diamond. He tensed up miniscully. Brow furrowed, Damian pointed to the gem.

"Where did you get that?"

Selina rolled her eyes.

"Relax. I found it in my suit pocket last week. It's old news."

What little tension he had gathered since her arrival dropped off his shoulders. All that was left was the stress of the day's events bouncing around in his skull. She tucked the diamond away and looked over at him.

"Did.. Batman tell you... ?"

He didn't finish the thought.

"He did."

He nodded, not able to bring about the usual annoyance at someone sharing his business. Selina's eyes twinkled on the other side of her mask lenses. But she didn't say anything. Something was on his mind and she was willing to wait as long as she had to for him to share. It was a good ten minutes before that tell-tale intake of breath. She sat at attention.

"I didn't... _want_ a soulmate."

The sounds of the city filled the silence that followed his statement. Selina did not need to hear his reasoning for that. She knew his background and had heard from her own soulmate what the League was like and how they felt about personal connection. Not very positive. Even raised as an assassin, a child is still a child who needs guidance through unfamiliar territory. The unfamiliar territory being soulmates.

"And now?" she prompted.

He looked away again.

"She is adequate."

Holding back a laugh, she asked, "Just adequate?"

He didn't answer. But that was high praise coming from him. The woman leaned in conspiratorially.

"You know... _he_ didn't want a soulmate either. But here we are."

Looking for the answers to all his concerns in a thief was not the usual answer. But this thief knew the inner workings of his family like the back of her hand, having been lurking in the shadows of their extracurriculars for far longer than he had even known his father's name. The look on her face was knowing as she read into his hesitation.

"Did he ever tell you the story?"

Damian shook his head, smashing down any outward signs of curiosity. But years of experience guessing what Batman was thinking gave her the go to keep talking.

"Well, it was the Travers diamond necklace, I believe. Back when Nightwing was Robin."

It was dark, the usual cloud cover secure in the sky. But Gotham for the most part was suspiciously still. Very little noise of traffic or sirens. As if the whole city was holding its breath.

The only thing moving was a dark figure dashing across the rooftops, strange mask concealed its face, fabric billowing around beneath it. It wasn't long before an even darker figure began its pursuit of the previous, mission in mind.

In the warehouse district is where the two figures finally collided.

The first had wrapped her prize wrapped in a bandage around her ankle for a hands free getaway. But the second figure was not about to let her 'get away'.

She turned to face him and the bright little bird that followed in his footsteps. A smirk rested on her face below the mask as the Batman stopped abruptly, having not expected her to stop running quite so soon. He especially did not expect the expertly placed kick, high and strong, right to the jaw line.

"He got back up, of course."

Damian just stared at her. So she continued.

It was enough to leave a rosy bruise, though. In the scuffle, her hair was tossed over her shoulders, revealing the lower half of her face. The woman could tell that the Bat was holding back, but to her surprise, having caught her wrist in his tight grasp, he froze. Robin, who had finally caught up gasped at the sight of her. She blinked at him strangely when he dropped her arm as if burned.

"Batman," said the Boy Wonder.

To her surprise, he took another step back. Now would have been the purrrfect time to escape, but the reaction would be bothering her for days. The two vigilantes just stared at her.

 _'Was this some sort of weird guilt tactic so I'll give back the diamond?'_ she thought.

But no. The Bat rubbed his jaw for a second before pointing vaguely to the corner of the warehouse where an out of place mirror stood. And in that mirror was her face, half concealed by a mask.

But the part of her face that was visible showed a dark violet mark. She knew she had not been hit in the face. But Batman had.

"Ah, I see."

They were still staring at her. Recovering quickly, she knelt down and untied the necklace from her ankle and tossed it over. Robin caught it easily.

"That ones a freebie. Next time, and there will be a next time, Batman," she winked at him. "It won't be so easy."

And then she dashed away into the darkness. Leaving a stricken Bat and bird behind.

"I dress far more sensibly now, in case you were wondering."

Silence fell again as Selina finished her story. It wasn't one he had heard before but it made sense. He felt a similar freeze up when he had returned to his own body. His mind was racing but his hands were able to do little more than pack up his things. Like father like son.

He sighed. And she waited. But not for very long.

"Tell me about her."

It wasn't phrased like a question but Robin could tell he had no obligation from Catwoman to answer.

"She hugged me."

A smile formed on her face at the revelation.

"It was... nice."

Selina nodded for him to keep going.

"She's a designer. I saw on her social media accounts. And she was drawing in her sketchbook at the hotel room. I scared her when I knocked on the window. She stood up so fast she flipped her chair."

He had on a little endearing smile. No comment was made on that.

"And she bakes. Her parents own a bakery. It is doing quite well financially."

The smile disappeared and in its place was a contemplative frown.

"She can fight. She knew how to take Grayson down in the spar when we switched. Why?"

He looked at the older woman imploringly.

"You'll have to ask her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ope sorry it took so long I had a bad case of didn't want to do anything for several days I hope you enjoy


	23. Aww Lila's Delusional Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all the people commenting on my use of malake instead of malak - i have been corrected on tumblr where i originally post my chapters that malak is the male version of the word so i wont be changing it back to that. i did look up and try and corroborate the accuracy of malak vs malake or malaki. when you translate a word into english it usually has several ways to spell it, malake is one of them. now i am curious, all the people who pointed out what malakas means in greek, how many of you actually speak greek and how many of you learned that from odyssey? lmao  
> as always, thank you for all your help and feed back!  
> much obliged,  
> iguana

Alya wasn’t worried about what Lila would think when she woke up. From the information she had managed to gather throughout the night from Nino, Adrien, and of course, Marinette, Lila probably wouldn’t think anything of it. She probably didn’t actually care. That made her chest tighten as she thought of all the times Lila had played her for a fool. Toying with her sympathies and feeding her falsehoods in pretty packaging. Thinking about it now with fresh eyes, it all made sense.

The lie Miss Rossi had started with: being best friends with Ladybug. She didn’t even hesitate, knowing exactly what to say to get her to listen. But no longer would she be drawn in by the flashing lights. Those lights drowned out the soft glow of a true friend and a good person.

Alya smiled at her best friend’s still sleeping form, pencil still loosely tucked into her hair, falling out of its ribbon. In the semi darkness, Alya glanced around at the room. Mari had a few things laying out, like a preapproved outfit for the next day, a sketchbook open to a half finished blouse design, dark smudges on the windowpanes, a sewing ki-

 _‘Wait, what?’_ Alya thought.

The blogger lightly padded over to the window. It wasn’t locked. That in itself wasn’t unusual as they were fairly high up. It was the slight prints on the white paint of the sill that piqued her interest.

No time to look any further, however, as Marinette sat up, stretching.

“Alya?” she yawned.

“Hmm?” The girl turned back to the rising designer.

“What time is it?”

Glancing around, her eyes landed on the little digital clock on the nightstand behind Mari. Without her glasses, she squinted at the little numbers.

“6:23.”

Letting out a deep sigh of displeasure. Mari flopped back down on the mattress, determined to go back to sleep. Windowsill forgotten, Alya dashed over to the bed and jumped onto the mattress next to her. Marinette let out an oof as she bounced a few centimeters off the sheets.

“Alyaaaaaaaa,” she complained.

“Girl, you’ll just be more tired if you go back to sleep now! Might as well just get up and get ready.”

Marinette sat back up and frowned. She knew Alya was right but that didn’t mean she had to be happy about it. Especially when Alya was suddenly acting like she had all the energy in the world. Dramatically, she stood, lifting her arms to beckon Marinette into standing. With Damian Wayne’s signature frown, she stares down her best friend.

“Now is not the time to 'be a good example’, Alya,” she grumbled.

“I’m just gonna keep acting chipper until you stab me.” Alya announced with a grin.

“I’ve never stabbed anyone.”

Alya leaned into her face, the same smile cemented on. “Yet.”

Marinette pressed her finger to Alya’s forehead and pushed. The reporter allowed herself to fall for a second longer than Mari was comfortable with, nearly giving her a heart attack. She jumped up to catch her, but Alya proved that unnecessary as she stood up straight again with a devilish smile. It was all a ploy. Marinette cursed.

“Gotcha.”

Marinette just hummed as she finally stood, preparing herself mentally for the day ahead. Lila was most likely going to cause a scene. But, by some blessing of the tiny pocket gods themselves, this confrontation was all the way across the Atlantic ocean. An eight hour flight from Hawkmoth and his stupid evil butterflies. So no chance Lila could be akumatized. Which was good since Marinette was getting sick and tired of fighting her specifically. She was starting to think the liar was actually working with Hawkmoth. And by starting to think she meant she was almost positive but couldn’t prove it more than superficially.

As Marinette focused on waking up and staying up, Alya laid out the clothes she had picked for her best friend the night before. Yes, Marinette was the designer here but Alya was determined to make Marinette’s “first” meeting with her soulmate absolutely fantastic!

She had chosen a soft pink overall dress with little green leaves sewn into the big pocket. Underneath she would wear a three quarter sleeve off the shoulder top. White tennis shoes would complete the look.

A tiny little Ladybug rested on the leaves that Alya hadn’t noticed before. She smiled at the reminder of her hero, Marinette’s soft footsteps towards the bathroom falling into the background.

Not too long later, nearing seven, Marinette was dressed and ready for the day, albeit rather tired.

“Are you going to go get ready?” Marinette asked.

Alya just squinted for a moment before her eyes widened with a creative gleam.

“Can I braid your hair?”

Encouraged by her enthusiasm, Marinette nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed. Alya bounded over and settled herself behind her friend and started twisting strands into place. When she finished, Mari was left with twin Dutch braids hanging over her shoulders, reminiscent of her old pigtails that she hadn’t worn since collège. It appeared Alya’s game plan for the day was “cute”. And overall, the look was very cute.

“Thanks, Al!” Mari smiled when she saw what the finished product was.

“Okay, I’m going to go get ready but I’ll meet you in the lobby?”

Nodding her confirmation, Alya gracefully swept out of the room, a move that would have left younger Marinette very jealous. As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, a red blur flashed across the room, stopping in front of her face.

“You look adorable, Marinette!”

“Thanks, Tikki!” she gave a little twirl.

“So, it sounds like Lila has finally gotten caught, huh.”

Marinette exhaled slowly through her nose.

“Yes, I only hope she doesn’t find some way to turn this back around (uno reverse no u),” she bit her lip.

Tikki just look at her with sympathy. She was the only one who Marinette had absolutely no secrets with. It was kind of difficult since she was basically a tiny pocket god that lived in her purse at any given moment. She decided to change the subject to something that might be a tad more pressing.

“Are you going to tell Robin that you know his secret identity?”

A troubled look planted itself in her features.

“I don’t know, Tikki. Do you think he’ll be mad at me? I really don’t want him to think I did it on purpose! Because then maybe he’ll never want to see me again! Oh, no, Tikki, what am I gonna do?!”

Luckily, Marinette managed to keep her volume even at least, despite her growing despair. Tikki just shook her head. Looks like the meeting with Robin last night had just about fully returned Marinette’s original personality, including her outlandish anxiety driven worries.

By the time Tikki had talked Marinette into relaxing, it was time to join Alya for breakfast. As she pushed open the door the designer had to stop in her tracks, Lila’s angry face greeting her on the other side.

“What did you say?” she demanded.

Marinette was confused. Not confused about what Lila thinks she said, but why she should still be concerning herself with this (I guess Damian isn’t totally gone here huh). Silence was the answer Lila received for her demand, aggravating her further.

“I told you what would happen if you continued to go against me, Marinette. You’ve burned your one and only bridge out of this mess.”

*buffering*

Marinette laughed. Really hard. Like absolutely wheezing and couldn’t breathe.

“Do you even hear yourself?!” Marinette managed. “I can’t believe you’re trying to pin this all on me!”

Lila’s face got redder and redder as Marinette tried to stamp down her remaining humor.

“I’ve gotta go!” Marinette closed the door and stepped around her. “See you later, Lila.”

At breakfast, Marinette was still smiling, suddenly ready for the day. She managed to sneak Tikki some lackluster breakfast pastry. Not nearly as good as her parents, but it’ll have to do. Adrien told her he had to feed Plagg a slice of American cheese for breakfast yesterday and there was almost a riot. And by riot he meant Plagg had almost destroyed the hotel. (Jk)

She joined Alya at her table, ready to take on the day. Right away, Alya could see that it was going to be a pretty good day for her best friend. She could see it in her eyes.


	24. Sleep Is For The Weak I Guess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ideally it wont be so long in between chapters next time oof

His talk with Selina had been... enlightening. Certainly he knew more about his father than he had before, but that was to be expected with a man as aloof as Bruce Wayne. It didn't come as a surprise that she hadn't been able to answer the most pressing question he had. It had been nagging at him as soon as he saw her in person for the first time. Standing much shorter than him, he was intrigued by the fact that she knew at least the basics of how to fight. Grayson had been taken completely off guard by her when she had been in his place. Whatever fighting style she knew, Grayson wasn't familiar with it, leaving him unable to predict and counter. Whether or not she could take any of his family in a fight without that advantage he didn't know. Yet.

After Catwoman had left him to his thoughts, he sat there on that roof for another twenty minutes, just thinking. From what he knew about her from social media completely matched how she acted in his presence. Infuriatingly sweet. A genuinely good person, although, according to Jon, it seemed she had arranged that confrontation between himself and the liar. Not that he could blame her. And also her ability to fight, at least to a degree.

She couldn't be underestimated.

"Tt."

He made his way home. Back to the manor, returning his suit to its rightful place and meticulously stacking his gear where it belonged. It wasn't terribly late, so Damian knew Alfred was most likely awake somewhere in the manor. But he wasn't interested in talking to anyone else for the rest if the night, already having enough to ponder.

His room was eerily quiet, the night not over just yet for the louder vigilantes that lived in the house.

He had finished his homework before leaving to go to the hotel, so it was already nearly packed away into his bag, ready to go for the morning.

Damian stood in his own doorway for several moments. He felt an inexplicable pull towards his desk and he followed it right into his desk chair. His hands moved on their own to the side drawer where he kept paper and pencils. Even though the foreign feelings should have left him when he met her for the first time, her creativity guided his hands into moving across the paper in precise lines.

It was a familiar landscape that came to mind. One he had drawn before. Accuracy in art had helped him before, cathartic and disciplined in every detail that was added. Patience and control had always been essential to his tasks in the League.

The creative feeling that stretched down into his fingertips was not his entirely, usually locking away the free feeling of it in favor of strict interests and behavior. All the sources of this bond said the first meeting would return everything to normal, so this surge of interest in continuing to create was a little odd. But everyone is different, of course. And as of right now, side of his hand now smudged a silvery-grey, he wasn't complaining.

It was strange to live in a world like this. Soulmate's made it so you could skip all the steps of falling for each other. It was like having a Universe sanctioned love interest, like the world was a dystopian government that matched people as they pleased, but with a greater guarantee of success than most in the books (that Damian hasn't read but Marinette probably had). That's wasn't to say that there weren't people who disregarded all the signs. There was no additional force of nature that actually influenced a pair to stay together. But most people wanted it to work. And so it did.

But there were plenty of stories out there of people who by no means could accept who the Universe wanted for them. Bad people had soulmates too.

That was what worried him. He thought about what Marinette would think about him once she knew the truth about where he's come from. What he's done. His hand stilled on the paper.

Would she like him if not for that bond?

Will she be able to look past his background and see who he really is? His childhood was more than troubled. Since his birth until he came to Gotham, all the adults around him were there to influence him into the perfect heir and weapon of a decidedly criminal organization. Would Marinette Dupain-Cheng... be able to look past the blood on his hands and see the effort he's made to be better? As Selina had said, the only way to know for sure was to ask her.

And he wanted it to work. He did.

Alfred the cat hopped up on the desk, startling him out of his reverie. Pawing at the pencils Damian had let go of, the cat drew his attention back to his almost abandoned paper. He pulled it gently out from beneath the cats feet and gave him a light scratch under the chin.

He grabbed another sheet of paper from the drawer, and started fresh again.

****

Where usually Damian would be, laying stiff as a board and stock still in the middle of the bed, the sheets remained unruffled. Instead, the desk chair was occupied. Bruce pushed open the door, with slight protest from the aging hinges. Arms back at his side, he stood staring at the hunched form of his only blood son, uncharacteristically disheveled after spending most of the night in that chair. He shook his head, attesting this to Damian's soulmate, whom he had yet to meet. Quite the influence she was turning out to be.

He approached slowly, not sure if there was any blades hidden in his son's sleeves. Gently, he placed his hand on Damian's shoulder.

Instead of shooting up, ever vigilant, the boy blinked a few times confusedly. Sitting up groggily, he looked up at his father who was gazing down at him, eyebrows high on his forehead.

As Damian woke up, Bruce glanced down at what had kept his youngest awake for so long.

The furthest one from Damian on the desk was a simple depiction of Gotham's skyline. The next one was a detailed image of a gargoyle; more specifically, the one that perched across from Wayne Enterprises.

The last picture was unfinished. But he recognized her, not only from the photo Tim uploaded, but from the quick background check nearly everyone in the family had run.

So this was Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Damian had drawn her mostly from memory. It was more detailed that a sketch, but it was still missing detail, so it was clearly not quite ready. It was profile, with a light source behind her head, which gave the drawing an ethereal halo effect.

His eyebrows travelled even further up his head. Interesting.

"Father. What are you doing in here?"

Ah, so the cold edge was back.

"Well, when I passed by, you weren't in your bed."

Damian simply frowned. His eyes moved back to the desk surface where the now dull charcoal pencil lay next to a half complete drawing. He reached out to stack the paper up and put it away and out of sight from prying eyes, but he hovered over Marinette's face and hesitated. After a moment, he continued, resting the paper and pencils back in the drawer gently. He would take care of that later.

He snapped up to look when Bruce cleared his throat.

" I heard you and Selina had a little chat."

Damian nodded, although it wasn't actually a question. It was silent, save for distant cursing from the kitchen, Jason having hidden the coffee from Tim again.

When Damian said nothing, Bruce simply nodded, understanding the lack of desire to talk about emotions. It ran in the family. Nevertheless, he prompted Damian to get ready for school, something he never thought he would have to do (other than of course the times at the beginning when Damian was adamant that the teachers there could not teach him anythinghe didn't already know - probably true). Then he left to finish getting ready for the day. Tim may have CEO responsibility, but he was due in the office.

Eventually, Damian arrived in the kitchen. Bruce glanced up from his coffee to him setting his school bag down in the doorway. He had dark circles under his eyes, the night spent at the desk having taken its toll on him. But there was a spark deep in his eyes, now reflecting back the coffee he had poured for himself. The day should prove to be interesting.


	25. An Exciting Day At School

The day passed much the same as the day before, the French class receiving a translated lesson plan as the Gotham High teachers reigned in their own students. Atmospherically, though, it was tense in the corner that the three French students occupied. As chatty as Alya and Lila had been the day before, today, other than Kim asking the occasional question, they sat in silence. Which was unfortunate. Damian would really like to know what happened after he left the hotel last night.

He had heard what the girl had said to his soulmate from his place in hiding, fists clenched to hide the anger fueled tremors. He saw more evidence of him having missed something important when lunch came around. It was Jon who pointed it out to him.

Damian followed his best friends gaze over to the French class. It seemed after what happened yesterday something had changed in the class, Lila Rossi slightly off to the side, the rest of the class sitting in stony silence. She appeared to be silently fuming as no one was paying any attention to her at all, save for the odd glare from Alya. He suppressed a smirk at the sight. Even after Damian redirected his attention back to his lunch, Jon still looked over to the table, quite conspicuously if Damian was being honest. He elbowed his friend gently, keeping his own gaze trained down.

Jon's attention was so obvious that Marinette's head snapped up and made eye contact with him. She appeared to almost laugh at Jon's stricken look, before she waved merrily at him, wrist tinged green from brushing against her seat neighbor, that blond boy. Speaking of, he looked over to Jon too when Marinette acknowledged him. That left the half Kryptonian a touch embarrassed at being caught. But, Jon doubletaked when he noticed the slight glow between her and the boy she sat next to. Red and green respectively.

"Damian, does Marinette have two soulmates?" he whispered.

Damian looked back up at Jon, frowning deeply.

"Is that even possible?"

"Yeah, I think so... I'm pretty sure I've heard of that." he told his friend.

Damian's frown deepened still. His chest filled up uncomfortably with a sort of pressure he was quite familiar with. The same feeling he had been squashing back since he'd learned to accept that Bruce had more than one child. His best friend interrupted his thoughts again.

"Are you.. do you want me to ask her about it?" Jon asked.

Damian snapped his head up to look his friend in the eyes.

"Don't be ridiculous. I can just ask her tonight."

Jon shook his head slightly.

"And tell her what? How would you even know about him? Are you gonna tell her you are spying on her? Girls don't like that."

That statement cut short any comeback he could have.

"Either you tell her you're spying on her and she gets mad or she figures out who you are. Because there's not really any other way you would know about him."

Damian grimaced. That would be fun to explain to his family.

With the occasional glance to the French table to confirm the girl who had threatened his soulmate was still seated in isolation, Damian finished his lunch quickly.

He stood and strode out of the lunch room, resisting the urge to look back, evidently not seeing Marinette watch him go.

She took note of the boy that followed him and wondered if he knew what his friend did in the Gotham nights. Adrien reclaimed her attention after a moment, chatting about some new anime he had started before they left Paris.

Rossi made a pitiful attempt to goad Alya into conversation after lunch. She was blatantly ignored in favor a trying out a few familiar English phrases on one of Damian's classmates, seeking out any interaction other than the girl beside her. His classmate, oblivious to the drama between the girls, did his best to answer with the two French words he knew (pronounced incorrectly). Kim was texting Alix under his desk.

Class went on and Damian stopped paying attention to whatever it was that happened, electing to ask Marinette later that night.

Jon sat up straight in his seat all of a sudden, all the students around him startled into side eyeing him, Damian included. He raised his hand.

"Mr. Benson, may I go to the bathroom?"

The teacher's mouth tightened at the sudden interruption, but he nodded anyway.

"Yes, Mr. Kent. Just sign out and hurry back."

Alya perked up out of her angry stupor at the name "Kent". Damian watched her curious eyes follow his friend out the door, possibly trying to connect the name and face to the fairly well known Daily Planet writer.

 _'Oh, right. She wants to be a reporter,'_ Damian thought.

Mr. Benson went on teaching as Jon walked out the door, pausing slightly to flash his best friend a grin. Growing suddenly suspicious, Damian watched Jon what little distance he could before he disappeared down the hall.

 _'He'd better_ not _,'_ Damian thought, eyes narrowed.

He knew Damian probably didn't want him to do this, but he felt like if he could, he should find out about the blond boy his best friends soulmate was sitting with. He heard her get up and leave the classroom from his spot next to Damian. In the spur of the moment, interrupting his teacher, he asked to leave the classroom.

Damian would probably be a bit -okay, definitely more than a bit - upset about it, but he was gonna do it anyway.

He wasn't sure what he was going to say to her because, as established, it was an impulsive decision. He saw her a ways down the empty hall, her back to him, and he paused to contemplate his next action.

 _'If I just ask her out of no where, I'll look like a total creep. Well, I haven't spoken to her yet, I could back out...'_ he considered.

Before he had even made his choice, she turned at the sound of his sneaker scuffing the tile. Her shoulders perked up just slightly.

"Hello! Could you tell me where to find the water fountain?" she asked politely.

"Oh! Um, yeah, yeah. I can," Jon nodded slightly and walked a bit closer. "Just down that way and to the left."

She just nodded her thanks to him and moved to walk in that direction.

_'Okay, abort mission.'_

"Marinette, right?"

_'Wrong choice.'_

Startled, she turned towards Damian's friend as he stood a few feet down the hallway from her. She recognized him as the boy who sat next to her soulmate both days she's been at this school, so he couldn't be bad news. Eyebrow quirked and hand on hip, she nodded.

"That's me," she answered him.

Aaaand he hadn't thought this far ahead.

"So, how are you liking Gotham so far?" he asked, certain the question was innocent enough.

She bobbed her head side to side before simply saying, "It's certainly darker than Paris, but still quite nice, I think."

Jon smiled at that. He held the same opinion about Gotham and Metropolis. Gotham was definitely more dangerous considering the nature of the Gotham underground, but needless to say, he isn't usually worried about himself considering his Kryptonian DNA. And it's unlikely that Marinette had seen the worse parts of Gotham yet, as Bruce Wayne would probably do everything in his power to make sure his sponsored class stayed as safe as possible in his city.

_'Okay, last chance to back out-'_

"Is that guy you were sitting next to at lunch your soulmate?"

_'Okay, so mouth not waiting for brain today. Terrific.'_

He had to stop from rolling his eyes at himself.

Marinette blinked a few times as she took in that question, not prepared for the pry into her personal life before finally understanding the purpose of this little hallway stop. The boy must know that she and Damian are soulmates and noticed her and Adrien's bond. He was simply looking out for his friend. So, Mari smiled at him.

"Platonique. We are friends."

The tension he held in his shoulders imperceptibly loosened. He had good news to bring back to Damian. She probably thought he was some kind of weirdo stalker, but still good news. She wasn't looking at him funny, though, which he thought was interesting. Maybe everyone is this forward in France so she doesn't think it's that weird of a question?

"Well, thank you for showing me the water fountains. Nice to meet you..." Marinette trailed off slightly.

He just smiled and waved, totally missing the implication that he forgot to tell her his name, mind still racing over what her impression of him might be.

"Nice to meet you too!"

_'Ah, I should probably tell Robin about Adrien, then, if his friend noticed,'_ Marinette thought as she walked down the hall, grimacing slightly.The same thought from the cafeteria returned. _'Does that guy know that Damian is Robin?'_

* * *


	26. the french club

As the class came to a close, Mr. Benson called out for his attention.

“Mr. Wayne, may I see you for just a moment before you go?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lila flinch at his name, Alya directing a glare directly at the side of her head. But still he nodded, approaching the teacher’s desk. Jon hung back, waiting to reveal what he undoubtedly learned when he left the class.

“The French club will be hosting the visiting class to help each other practice language skills. You’re fluent, correct? I’m sure you’d make an excellent asset if you came to this meeting,” he said.

Damian frowned slightly at that. On one hand, it would be a good way to get to know his soulmate in a more natural state, not on edge in the presence of a vigilante. But on the other hand... Lila Rossi. Marinette’s influence had prevented him from getting too angry with the girl but having to sit through an hour plus specifically to talk to one of them might just set him over the edge.

“I think I’ll pass.”

The older man looked a bit crestfallen at Damian’s answer, but nonetheless, extended his invitation again.

“Well, we will be meeting in the LG until 4:15 if you change your mind.”

He nodded before turning back towards Jon, who was looking at him expectantly, bag in hand. His face twinged slightly in annoyance, knowing for a fact, without even asking, that Jon absolutely had done what he told him not to do.

 _‘Uh oh,’_ Jon thought before adopting a sheepish smile, one that did not affect the dark look on his friend’s face.

"Tt."

***

The room they all filed into was fairly spacious, the French club members still trickling in. Marinette glanced around, analyzing everyone's faces, looking for one in particular, but ultimately not seeing it. She was a bit disappointed, but cest la vie. Mlle Bustier's smile and enthusiastic gestures kept her from frowning like she would like to. Marinette was only half listening to the plan Mlle Bustier was laying out for the afternoon, too distracted by, again, the disappointment of Damian not coming to the meeting, and also the trepidation of what his reaction might be to finding out she had a second soulmate. Just based on the way she felt when she knew that she was channeling him, she had a feeling he was not new to jealousy/possessiveness. That finally caused her neutral expression to droop into a scowl.

Alya elbowed her lightly, concern in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" she whispered.

Marinette chose silence, opting to shake her head slightly instead of using words she wouldn't be able to articulate. Alya didn't know about Damian/Robin yet. And it wouldn't be fair to tell her about it. So this issue was something she and he would have to work out on their own, possibly involving Adrien later since he was technically already involved.

Alya adopted a much less intense frown than Marinette had on at her friends refusal to share, but perked up a bit when the American teacher walked in and revealed to be the one she had for homeroom - with Lila 🤮.

He went to stand at the front of the LG and took in a deep breath before starting to deliver his little spiel. His French was quite good (as if it were his entire career or something lol), the Dupont kids following along easily, and the Gotham High kids understanding just about all of it too (as they are the best of the best in language skills at this school, most others not caring enough to try).

"Okay, French club, welcome back and a big welcome to our visiting class from Paris!"

He droned on for a few moments about how happy he was that they were here and how excited he was that they had this opportunity to learn and strengthen their French skills with actual native speakers.

"So, what we are going to do is split you all up. It looks like we are about two to one here do it'll be two Gotham students to one Dupont student. Pick your partner and we'll split up the rest. Okay, go!"

The room filled with a bit of chatter as the club kids started to mill around and group up. As for Marinette's class, they hung back and waited for Mr. Benson to assign them a pair. Marinette got matched up with a boy who looked like he might be in his last year, about two years above her. He smiled a little bit as he looked around to see if there were any stragglers that needed a group. One person was only just walking through the door so he gave her a wave to show that she should join them. With a flip of her hair, she acknowledged him before going to get a quick run down of the agenda from the teacher who was in conversation with Mlle Bustier.

The boy, Mark, started to speak lightly in English, aiming for a simple topic of conversation. Marinette smiled gently before informing him of her established fluency. His eyes lit up a little bit.

"That's great! Are you all fluent?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"No, I had to practice English for.. my job."

It wasn't a lie.

"Oh. What's your job?" he asked.

"Oh, uh, I do some art work for people to use," she vaguely said.

He quirked an eyebrow.

"Like graphic design?"

Marinette bobbed her head back and forth a little bit.

"Sometimes."

Even though Lila was halfway across the room and there was no way Marinette could hear what she was saying, she knew that she was likely lying to the poor kids she was forced into a group with. She also couldn't help but glance over at the girl from time to time as Mark told her about his job as a barista at the local Starbucks.

 _'Damn. I was hoping Damian giving her the third degree would establish a little bit of humility in those stupid ponytails,'_ Mari scoffed internally.

She realized her conversation partner was no longer talking about 'that one time this random dude came into his Starbucks and ordered twelve shots of espresso with no sugar- he would have ordered thirteen if he didn't think his father would yell at him -' when she turned back and saw that he had followed her stare all the way to the liar. Her attention snapped back to him as he looked about to continue.

"Hey, is that the girl that Damian Wayne confronted yesterday?"

"Hmm?" Marinette took a second to sort through his words.

"Didn't Damian, like, come up to your lunch table and yell at her for something?"

Marinette considered for a minute. The vindictive part of her, and possibly Damian, wanted to tell this stranger exactly how terrible Lila is and why. But as Ladybug, where would she be if she started to slander the names of civilians just for personal validation. She had to disregard the satisfaction she had felt when Damian confronted her and be a bigger person. So she just nodded.

"She... stretched the truth a bit about something that involved him and he did not appreciate it, I guess."

_'And that's putting it lightly. Doesn't-even-begin-to cover-it lightly.'_

Mark grimaced.

"That girl is honestly really lucky Damian didn't threaten to sue or something. Or flip the table. I'm super surprised he didn't, like, actually freak out at her," the boy was solemn at his admission.

Marinette's brow furrowed lightly.

"What cha talking about?" the girl who came in late sidled up to the boy Marinette was talking to.

"Oh, hey Brianna. We're talking about Damian," he answered simply.

"Damian Wayne?" the girl pulled a face. "He's just the worst."

She said that a bit louder than originally intended.

Those that had eyes on Mari saw, for just a split second, her face flash with a scary kind of rage coming from a girl that short. But a second later it was gone, as though it had never been there. And her voice came out rather soft, despite the intense emotion she tamped down a second ago.

"What makes you say this?"

Since she at almost directly across from Marinette, she definitely saw the anger directed at her statement. So she went on nervously, unsure of why the Parisian would be so angry about insulting a random rich kid.

"It's just that he acts like he's better than all of us, ya know? He doesn't talk to anybody but that one kid from Metropolis, Jon. I have literally never seen him smile. He's got a temper," she finished.

"Yeah, he's kinda got that whole 'holier-than-thou' attitude going," Mark added.

"Also he's kind of scary."

Marinette just nodded, taking it all in, before another person cut in.

"He's been better the last two weeks, though."

It was Annie. Her little group sat just close enough that she heard most of their conversation and finally decided it was time for her to cut in. All five sets of eyes were on the club president as she spoke (Marinette and her partners as well as Annie's partner and Adrien).

"Oh, please. Don't defend him," Brianna said.

"No, no, I asked him about it. He just found out about his soulmate."

Annie's partner scoffed.

"Whoever she is, I feel bad for her. Saddled with the Ice Prince of Gotham for life."

Despite the fact Adrien was processing their words slower than Marinette, he could sense that his friend was getting agitated the more the Gotham kids said about this other guy. In an attempt to protect his friend and super hero partner, he gave redirecting the conversation a try.

"Well, if you spent your whole life with people trying to use you for your money and fame, don't you think you'd be a little cold too? I mean, it's not at all fun to have a camera shoved in your face all day long."

Marinette finally smiled at Adrien, thankful for his thoughtful addition to the conversation.

Brianna, still seated across from Marinette, suddenly squinted at Adrien before her eyes went wide with recognition.

"Hey, are you a model?"

"Me?!" Adrien was a bit startled at the sudden address.

"Yeah, yeah! I've seen you before, on a billboard along the Atlantic city expressway. Shannon, you know the one. That cologne ad right before that one truck stop with the Starbucks."

Annie's partner, apparently named Shannon, nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, 'Adrien' right?By _Gabriel_. I swear that billboard was up for two straight years."

Adrien's face lit up a bright red as the girls went on about the billboard.

"Huh, so I guess you would know something about cameras shoved in your face?" Shannon asked.

He just gave a vague shrug, now no longer wanting to look either girl in the eye. Marinette looked on with amused concern on her face, but glad the conversation turned away from these people unknowingly bashing her soulmate.

"Touché," Mark's partner laughed.


	27. Get to the Point and Fast (But Not Fast Enough)

After that whole show in the LG, Marinette was tense and on edge. She didn't appreciate the flippant way they spoke about him. Maybe they were right, but she felt a surge of possessive protectiveness she couldn't cut down. So, stiff she sat all through free time and the subsequent dinner, choosing to skip the spar between her and Adrien after. Her platonic soulmate simply brushed it off, attributing the snub to the bad mood she had picked up during the club meeting.

She ignored most of her friend's attempts to start a conversation, giving only short, stilted answers. Her friends, bless them, weren't getting mad at her for this, picking up on the fact that something is bothering her. Adrien elected to bring it up later,when she was ready to talk.

"Hey, Mari?"

She turned away from her door, hand pulling away from the handle.

"I was wondering if you'd still be okay with sharing a room with me? I don't think I can stand this for two more weeks," Alya grimaced.

A tiny bit of tension melted off Marinette's shoulders. Managing a smile, she nodded.

"Of course, Alya. We'll talk to Mlle. Bustier tomorrow and get all your stuff moved after school. How about that?"

Alya perked up.

"Hell yeah, girl! I can't wait to be your roommate!"

Alya turned away to enter the room she unfortunately shared with Lila, still smiling.

_'Another thing I'll have to tell Robin about.'_

The first thing she did when she got into her room and shut the door was to throw open one curtain. Just the one over the window where Robin would enter. She then cracked the window slightly, so he could easily open it from the outside. Once she was satisfied with her work there, she dug around in her carry on bag for the cookie stash she had brought just for Tikki. She passed one to the Kwamii, who happily accepted it.

"You can't let it get to you," she whispered.

Tikki looked over to her chosen, who now stood in front of the bathroom mirror but stared down into the sink. She flew over to her, resting lightly on her shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

Marinette heaved a great sigh before walking back out into the bedroom.

"It's just... the things those students were saying about him, you know? They all made him out to be this... I don't know, what's the best word? Mean? Mean person, and I just... i don't know, Tikki."

Tikki nodded sagely, surely about to pull on some timeless and encouraging knowledge from like.. a million years ago.

"You'll just have to form your own opinion about him and disregard everyone else. He can't be all bad!"

 _'Okay, so not nearly as.. encouraging as I hoped for,'_ she pouted.

Another benefit to having the window slightly open (other than the obvious soulmate entry point), was the fact that Tikki would know exactly when to hide. It was the telltale sound of metal cord in track, the same sound her yo-yo makes when she's zipping between buildings. Or any of the bats' grappling hooks to be perfectly technical. The next sound being a window sliding open. Quickly, she schooled her expression and went to face her soulmate.

As soon as his boots hit the floor, she started to relax a little. Neither of them could quite put their finger on it, but they felt... comfortable.

"Robin," she smiled.

He inclined his head in response, which Marinette could only assume was his version of a warm greeting. He was certainly one of the most difficult people to read she'd ever met. Over time, she'd have to really work at learning and understanding his body language if she really wanted to _know_ her soulmate.

Robin got to work at pulling the arm chair over to where it was only just in view of Red Robin, today's chaperone. It was all he could do to avoid his brother's interested gaze. Once settled, Marinette cross legged on the end of her bed, Robin opened his mouth to say something. Whatever it is seemed to have dissipated into the air because he immediately closed his mouth again.

"What can you tell me about yourself?" Marinette threw out there.

He pondered for a moment what was safe to say.

"I'm a vegetarian."

That seemed innocent enough. Could be anybody under that mask. Yes, very convincing.

"Oh, fun! Have you always been or is it recent...?" she trailed off a little.

"A few years now."

Due to the mask, Marinette unfortunately was unable to see Damian wrestling with whether or not he can say what he's about to say. Ultimately, he bites the bullet and just says it.

"Your parents are bakers?"

Nevermind the fact that he probably shouldn't know that yet. Marinette knew that the Bats were supposed to be detectives. She was far from stupid. It was completely expected that he would do as much research as he could on her going into it, especially given that some random stranger had now seen the inside of the Batcave and had no idea what Nightwing had said while he was away. So, him knowing things? Not worrying.

"Yes! They are."

It was the things he didn't know about that Marinette was worried about.

"What would you say makes your bakery unique among all the others in Paris?"

Alright, cool and collected. Questions clearly planned in advance. She could work with that.

"Hmm, I would probably say our mixture of both my mother and father's technique. For example, rice flour in the bread, instead of just regular flour like my dad had always been taught, gives it a much lighter texture," she answered.

He nodded thoughtfully, but his visible face revealed nothing. Meanwhile, Marinette was starting to get antsy that he hadn't said anything about Adrien. He has to know. His friend had to have told him. Unless he wasn't a friend and just a person that sits with him and he was just asking for no reason other than curiosity and oh no! Now she's about to drop this bomb on him that he wasn't prepared for and he's gonna be really mad and-

_'FOCUS, WOMAN.'_

"I have a platonic soulmate."

_'AND FULL SEND IT IS. CONGRATULATIONS!'_

Her normal inner monologue was clearly returning the more time she spent with him. If Damian could only hear it... oof. He'd wonder how the Universe came to this match when looking over all the people of the world (and off world).

The conversation plans he had (but clearly had no idea how to execute) were derailed with this sudden admittance. But, finally he showed a visible emotion. Surprise wasn't really the one she would have gone for but beggars can't be choosers. He didn't respond right away so she kept going.

"His name is Adrien, and he's one of my best friends. It's the glowy kind where when you touch your skin glows. so, it doesn’t show up all the time. It's kinda cool. And it's totally platonic! We are just friends!"

He nodded slowly. He spent a few seconds cramming down any negative feelings towards this guy he'd never even met... well he had, but not as himself so it didn't count. And he knew this was coming, he just didn't realize she'd be so blatant. It was... rather refreshing that she didn't try to hide it. She didn't really know about his track record of jealousy (Lord knows Tim certainly does), so she didn't feel afraid sharing that other connection with him. It was, simply put, nice.

"Okay," was all he said, though, deciding to sort through the more complicated feelings later.

Normally he would have argued with.. well not her. It’s not her fault. But her wide eyes and earnest expression begged him to be okay with this.

“Okay,” he said again.

She seemed positively relieved. Somehow she understood what that okay conveyed - at least in part.

Let’s change the subject, shall we?

"So, since you are a vegetarian, what are your favorite recipes?"

And the conversation went on. For a good bit. Food is a lovely common ground between people trying to get to know each other. The conversation tapered off naturally, having went into the logistics of cooking meat replacements things, which, Marinette frankly knew nothing about.

Both vigilante and civilian were sitting relaxed in their respective spots, a comfortable silence all around them. They hadn't yet been able to just take in their soulmate yet, having the secret identities, sneaking in the window, and a liar knocking on the door to deal with. The next night, Alya would be moving into this room, unable to stand Lila anymore, especially after hearing the full extent of her best friend's rivalry with the girl. Marinette had to be sure to tell Robin that they would have to figure something else out the subsequent nights she would be in Gotham.

It was Marinette that eventually broke the easy silence. She'd managed to get the platonic soulmate situation off her chest, but one, that may be far more pressing, remained.

"Lying by omission is still lying, non?"

He thought for a moment before answering.

"Most people would say that, yes."

Nodding thoughtfully, Marinette gently folded her hands in her lap, taking a second to gather her words before speaking. She was fairly confident she had his identity figured out. By her logic, and his if he considered himself "most people", not telling him what she knew was the same as deceiving him, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

"I hate lying. I'm awful at it, too."

His usually straight expression twitched slightly, probably at the thought of the girl in front of him trying to tell a lie.

"And this is why you do not like Lila Rossi?" he supplied.

Marinette took his slight derailment in stride.

"Among other reasons, but that's not exactly where I'm going with this," she said.

The slight lift of the mask suggested he was raising his eyebrows.

"What is it, then?"

Marinette took in a breath and prayed he wouldn't be too upset.

A quiet but urgent beep interrupted her train of thought. Robin frowned and reached down to look at the offending communicator.

He let out a sound of intense frustration, before looking across to where Red Robin was currently standing, waving him over.

"I'm afraid I must cut this short, Marinette. I am required elsewhere."

He started towards the window.

"Okay, but-"

He looked back, expectant but tense. She backpedaled. She wouldn't be able to function on a mission if someone were to drop an identity compromising anvil on her head, so she wouldn't do it to him either.

"It can wait."

Nodding he said, "See you tomorrow."

And he swung away. She watched as he landed alongside Red Robin, who hardly waited for him to catch his balance before dashing off into the distance. As soon as the two were out of her range of vision, Tikki appeared by her head.

Marinette looked like a thousand pounds had just been added to her shoulders. She threw up her arms in a silent freakout, trying not to alert her room neighbors of her recent strife. Tikki simply shook her head.

"Don't worry, Marinette," she said at her holder's expression. "You'll get another chance tomorrow."

_'Tomorrow. Tom- TOMORROW?!'_

"Tikki!"

All the blood fell out of her face.

"Alya is moving in here tomorrow after school!" she screeched as loud as she dared. "I cannot believe I forgot to tell him that _very_ vital detail!"

She dropped her face into her hands. Her head popped back up quite fast, Tikki was sure she hurt her neck, and began pacing.

"I have to figure out how to tell him..." she muttered. "Maybe I could leave a note in the window- no, Alya might see it..."

"Marinette."

She kept on mumbling, going over as many options as she could think of to solve this.

"Marinette!"

The kwamii finally got the girl's attention and smiled to soothe her.

"You go to school with him. You'll just have to send the message that way."

"... yes! Okay, okay, so tomorrow after class I will go find Alya - she's in his class right? - and I ask her about moving in... yeah! That'll work! Thank you, Tikki, you're a lifesaver."

She collapsed on the bed, suddenly drained after her panic.

"Okay. I have a plan. Everything will be fine."


	28. A Lesson In Terrible Subtlety

Marinette had been very slowly and quietly packing up her things for lunch while the teacher was still speaking. She had to make it to Alya's class to speak to her about moving her stuff from Lila's room to her's. Loudly. In front of Damian.

Mylene glanced up from her prepared work sheet to see Marinette sitting stock still in her seat, nothing on her desk, and eyes focused intensely on the clock. So when the bell rang and the designer sprung from her seat, she was a little more than startled, nearly falling out of her seat and onto Nino, who was also staring after Mari, bewildered.

Needless to say, her effort wasn't wasted when she arrived at Mr. Benson's class just as the first few kids were walking out the door. Damian was not one of them. She managed to relax a little bit making the upcoming interaction seem more natural and not at all forced. Cringing internally when she remembered how bad she was at reading a script she hadn't prepared what she was going to say.

Lila hurried out of the room, not even bothering to wait for Alya or Kim, avoiding Damian or Marinette or both.

Out of the corner or her eye she could see Damian and his friend, Jon, still near their desks.

"Alya!" she greeted nervously.

"Hey, girl, what's up?" Alya smiled a little at her friend's voice.

"I-i just wanted to..." she paused, thinking of something that wouldn't come across as super obvious.

Her best friend raised her eyebrows, waiting.

"Do you want to move your stuff to my room before or after dinner tonight?" she finally asked, way too loud to be normal and resisting the urge to look at her soulmate, who was now slowly walking towards the door.

"Ugh, as soon as possible! Thanks for letting me room with you, again."

Marinette just nodded and smiled in response, hoping that Damian picked upon what she was trying to tell him. A few more seconds later, when Alya was ready, she whipped around only to make eye contact with him as he passed the door frame. She was hit with a warmth deep in her chest.

_'Don't do it don't do it don't do it-'_

She flashed a knowing yet awkward smile at him, eyebrows lifting high up on her forehead (that was essentially saying 'Did you catch that? Please tell me you got that.) causing his eyes to widen almost imperceptibly.

_'Why did i do that??!?! Impulse control?!? Hello??'_

*a few steps down the hallway*

_'Does she know?'_

Damian shook his head, wishing he could deny it. She had wanted to say something important to him last night but back pedaled when he was on his way out the window. What had she said? Withholding information is like lying? Lying by default?

_'Of course she knows, you dunce.'_

He hardly knew the girl but he could already imagine her scolding his inner monologue, telling him to be nicer to himself.

Jon lightly bumped his shoulder into him, causing Damian to look up. He tried to keep his expression cool and relaxed, but his friend could pick up on the tension behind it.

***

Dinner was a quiet affair, Jason being out taking care of something or other. Dick was uncharacteristically silent, seeming mulling something over in his mind. Tim was honestly dead on his feet and Bruce definitely noticed. He took one look at Tim when he got home from the office.

"Benched for the night."

The young CEO just blinked back at him. Bruce shook his head and turned back towards the dining hall. Damian was tense. As hyper-aware as he usually is, trained to anticipate attack, his senses were even sharper now after what happened right before lunch. It was clear from that -very awkward- display in the classroom that Marinette was definitely directing her conversation at him. The look she gave him made him more than certain.

It was actually the first time they had made real eye contact. Unobstructed by mask or distance. The rush of warmth in his chest that followed was comforting, like being welcomed home after a long time away. A thing he once bitterly swore to himself he would never feel. She must have felt it too.

But she knew his identity. So she must also know his father's. And brothers too, by definition. Now he had to decide whether to tell Father that she knows now, or talk to her first. But he didn't know when that would be, seeing as Miss Alya Césaire was moving in with her, not that he blamed the girl. Rossi was certainly unbearable one on one.

The anxiety he hasn't been able to shake since the switch was creeping back up on him. A remnant of his soulmate’s mind in his, not completely faded after her birthday. He began overthinking and reevaluating the situation once again. She looked at him. Obviously. She smiled at him like she knew he was listening.

But what if she only smiled like that because she knew he spoke French after he had confronted Rossi? What if she acted like that with all the random people she looked at? But the feeling in his chest when they made eye contact! She wasn't stupid and it wouldn't be that hard to connect the dots when they aren't obscured by a glamour.

_'Why am I thinking about magic?'_

Throughout this entire thought process, Damian's face remained stone cold staring down at his plate. No one noticed.

"So... Tim?" Dick finally broke the silence.

Tim just answered with a hum.

"Any luck on figuring out who MDC is?"

That woke him up a little bit. He blew all the air in his lungs out through his nose.

"No! I can't believe I haven't figured it out yet. I routed commission payments from Clara Nightingale and Jagged Stone and I managed to follow them to a bank account. But the agency that runs the account deals only in inaccessible hold accounts. From there, I haven't managed to figure out where the money is being wired to from there. The coding is super advanced that its gonna take me ages to find out where the money is going. And Babs refused to help me!"

"For God's sake." Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose.

Tim waved his fork at the man, dismissing his judgy attitude.

"Do you want me to contact the man to get commission details? I'm certain I must know someone who knows him." Bruce desperately offered.

"Too easy!" Tim shouted as he slammed down his hands on the table top.

Too hard because Alfred's glare could be felt across the room. Tim glanced over at him with a silent apology.

After dinner Damian approached Dick, still looking like he was chewing on the same thought from dinner.

"My soulmate's friend is moving into her room with her since her current roommate is an insufferable liar."

A statement.

"I will need a lookout for placing a message where she will find it so I can continue to speak with her."

A request?

Dick just nodded.

"Okay."

Damian nodded one single time before turning on his heel and stalking towards the cave.

"Okay, now, I guess."


	29. Who Says Bats Only Come Out At Night

Damian was in his Robin suit and out the door before Dick could even let Bruce know they were leaving. When he did finally managed to catch the Big Bad Bat, he just stared at him incredulously.

“Sunset isn’t for at least another hour, you know that right?” he asked.

Dick just shrugged before heading down to change.

Robin was standing on the roof of Marinette's hotel, overlooking the city carefully as Nightwing left across the gap and joined him near the access door. He gestured for the elder of the two to watch over the side of the building to make sure that the group had left before he made his descent down to Marinette’s window. He continued nervously (not that he didn’t hide that well) glancing back at Nightwing. Dick pretended not to notice his frequent head turns. Nightwing was set only a few feet back from the edge of the roof on the other side. According to the class schedule, they should be leaving for a nearby restaurant any minute now. That would give Damian the perfect opportunity to leave Marinette a note where she would see it and her new roommate would not.

In the glass of the builidng’s windows across the street, he sees some sudden movement. Slowly, Dick leaned over the side of the building, eyes catching onto the teacher's brightly colored hair. Satisfied that they had finally left, he waved behind his back to his youngest brother. In a flash, however, one student turned and looked up at him, and he couldn't get back fast enough to avoid them seeing him. He relaxed only a moment later when his brain processed who it was. She was expecting them.

**

Marinette was following behind Adrien at the back of the group when she had a prickly feeling at the back of her neck. On instinct, she looked up to the roof. She sees a mask retreat back out of sight. It wasn't her soulmate but she knew that the Bats prefer the cover of darkness. It was very obviously not dark out yet. that was planned out on purpose to keep the tourists off of dangerous Gotham streets as much time as possible. There was simply no plausible reason for them to be up on the roof unless they had a very good reason to be. Damian must have understood what she was saying, not to Alya, but to him. Tension melts out of her shoulders as she slowly turns back to the group, only to see Adrien's eyes fixed on the roof where Nightwing had been.

"What were you looking at, Bug?" he whispered.

"Architecture."

He shrugged, eyebrows quirked like he didn’t believe her, then looping his arm around her and pulling her into the group.

**

Damian scans the street on his side for watchful eyes before sliding down the building to her room. It would be bad form for Gotham citizens to see any of the vigilantes sneaking into a hotel room. He gently pushes it open, knowing Marinette left it unlocked for him.

The lamp was on. She left the lamp on for him, a vigilante that jumps off buildings in the middle of the night and does more dangerous things every day than stumbling around a dark hotel room. He paused to consider that and the look it gave him into her character. Shaking his head slightly, he started moving further into the room.

Alya had clearly already moved in if the things haphazardly tossed on the other bed was anything to go by. He paid her things no mind, however, holding onto the ultimate goal of this trip.

He scans over Marinette's side of the room, the half closer to the window, looking for a good spot to place the note he had written. He spots a nice but worn sketch book, the spine showing it had been well used. He treads over to it and picks it up. Flipping to the latest page, he sees a dress and suit combo. It takes him a moment but once he understands it’s hard to ignore. With the dark colors and crisp lines, it's clearly inspired by Gotham city's skyline at night. Damian doesn't exactly smile, but he does appreciate her artistic capability for longer than one would expect. He doesn’t flip through the rest of the book, even though he would certainly like to. He simply reminds himself to ask her if he can look at more of it later. Usually he would just look and not give a damn what other people would want but he would hate it if someone else saw the things he drew. Paying her the same courtesy would be something she would appreciate, right?

Before dinner at the manor, Damian had logged himself onto the hotel records and found a listing of all of the occupied rooms in the hotel. He found a vacant one, relatively close to where Marinette was staying, on the same floor at the very least, and had instructed her to meet him there after her roommate had gone to bed. He would come in through the window and let her through the door.

So he just tucks the note right there next to the pencil she still has resting in the book and flips the cover closed. He leaves it poking a little out the top, just in case she didn't notice right away, it would be obvious once she took a closer look.

That was all he had to do. He was done being in this room now. He was free to leave now that he had completed this task. Nothing else was necessary action. But...

Hesitating, he pulled the note back out and picked up her pencil. On the top corner, just where the paper would stick out of the pages, he doodled a little robin, semi-realism. It was quick, not his best work. But it was still more time than he had planned to spend on it, which is to say, normally he would spend no time at all on frivolous little doodles. But she would like it, he thought. Before he could overthink it anymore, he shoved it back in the book and snapped it shut before deliberately moving the book away from where Marinette had left it, making his presence obvious.

Back at the window, he glared down at the street, waiting for pedestrians to round the corner before making his exit. Once he was sure not to be seen, he climbed his grapple back to the roof, where Nightwing was reclined, staring at the orange haze that signaled the sunset, hidden by taller buildings than the one they stood on.

"Bit strange to be out when the sun is, huh?"

Damian didn't answer, choosing instead to stare out at absolutely nothing.

"Well. It's a bit too late to go back home. We'd just have to come right back. What do you want to do, Baby Bird?" Dick asked, already knowing the answer.

***

The class was walking down the street in semi-darkness, coming back from dinner at a nearby restaurant. Somehow, on the way out the door, Marinette had fallen a bit behind, leaving her to bring up the rear. She was only a few steps behind Kim but that didn't ease the feeling of being watched. Especially when the distinctive thud of boots hitting the street sounded behind her. They were light on their feet, trained in silence. But Marinette was a good listener if anything. She half turned her head to the sound, fully prepared to pick up the pace if need be. Take them down if that proved necessary. But the domino mask that greeted her had the opposite effect, faltering her steps at the familiar scowl.

When she met his concealed eyes he nodded as if to say, "I've got your back."

She smiled warmly at him, the corners of his mouth twitching in response. He pointed up towards the roof of the building they stood next to, pulling his grapple off his hip. She smiled and nodded. With her confirmation, he continued his watch from the rooftops, making it more difficult for Marinette's classmates to spot him.

The sound that came from the grapple was familiar to most of the students ahead of her, having heard it plenty of times in Paris. But only one of them had their ears trained behind them, like they were keeping an eye on their smaller classmate in a dangerous city. Damian had only just made it out of sight when Kim turned back to Marinette.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

Eyes wide, Marinette answered him too quickly.

"Hear what?"

He lifted his eyebrows in confusion, now fully walking backwards, facing her.

"The yo-yo sound. Like Ladybug."

Alix yanked on his sweatshirt sleeve.

"Turn around, idiot. You're gonna fall on your ass and I'm gonna laugh."

"You wouldn't even help me?!" he gasped with fake offense.

Marinette breathed out a sigh of relief when Kim allowed himself to be distracted, right after gesturing her to get into the group, and let the question drop. Attention off her and her soulmate, she let herself tune back into the slight crunch of the roof gravel above her head as Robin moved above, providing comfort as her class traversed the unfamiliar streets.

The dark was, quite honestly, overpowering when all she had known her whole life was the city of light. But in Gotham, every other street lamp was out, the buildings looming overhead dark and foreboding. Shadow clung to the citizens like kudzu ivy on trees. The urge to find a nice shadow to hide in was only slight. Thank you, Damian.

Needless to say, despite Hawkmoth, Gotham has a more cynical outlook to Paris. You would think that never being able to feel your emotions would make for the most cynical and unhappy people on the planet. And it was difficult to say the least, but let’s just say, the therapists who operate out of Paris’s surrounding cities had never had more work. 

It was hard to believe her soulmate had been living here for more than six years. That much she knew. Now that he was aware that she knew who he was, maybe he would be free to share more about himself. She also knew that there would be no avoiding the fact that she knew his identity tonight. They wouldn’t be able to just... zip past that.

 _‘Oh, no! What if he brings Batman to come and yell at me for figuring out their identities? What is he bans me from ever seeing Robin again and I’ll be soulmate-less forever? What if he decides to lock me up in Arkham forever so I can never tell anyone their identities?! What if-’_ Marinette felt a bump on her leg and she glanced down to see Tikki glaring up at her. Like the little god could sense her holder was gonna talk herself into a panic attack again. Ah, well. Little god indeed.

At the glass doors of the hotel, the large group split up slightly into the smaller friend units. Usually, Alya's instinct would be to go stand with Lila, offer to help her since she had oh so many conditions and injuries. But not today. Today, she fell back and casually linked her arm with Marinette's. The two girls could feel Lila's scathing glare from next to Mlle. Bustier. They ignored it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the increasingly long gaps between chapters guys i started working and have yet to figure out how to do that balance thing that adults are supposed to do! i hope you enjoyed


	30. Rematch?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im pretending this chapter is longer to make up for the long post gap and not because i have material for later chapters i desperately wanna use right now right now

Alya didn’t go to sleep until quarter to midnight. Luckily for one wanting to sneak out, Alya was a very heavy sleeper, having years of practice sleeping through sibling roughhousing and temper tantrums in the next room over.

Marinette could already feel that it was going to be very late night, as there was a very specific conversation that could no longer be avoided.

The note he left had said that there was an empty room at the edge of her floor, across from the stairwell. She had no idea how he knew that, but grateful nonetheless.

She lightly traced the tip of her finger over the little bird at the top of the page. A soft smile formed on her face as she imagined him in his full Robin get-up taking the time to draw her a little picture And it was quite good too. He had talent with a pencil. She appreciated every detail she learned about him, having gotten the sense that very few really know anything about him. Definitely no one at school, except perhaps his self proclaimed courier, Jon.

Before getting up from the desk, Marinette carefully listened to her best friend’s breathing, trying to hear any hint that she may actually be awake. Gathering no such detail, Marinette slipped out the door and into the hall, Tikki phasing through the door behind her and darting into her sweatshirt pocket.

With a quick glance to both sides, she cleared the space to ensure no one saw her leave her room so late.

Time felt frozen out in the hotel hallway. Like it had paused in anticipation of something an indescribable distance away. The kind of atmosphere felt deep in the stomach. And Marinette was dragging her feet through it. She knew it too. She was stalling.

“He can’t be that mad, right?” she murmured to Tikki.

The little god looked up at her chosen with her big blue eyes in silent support.

Three deep breaths later and Marinette was outside the door Robin - Damian - had told her about, lifting her hand to knock. Lightly. Four times on the center of the door. It creaked open just enough that Marinette could hear him step back out of view of the hallway. As soon as he had retreated enough, she pushed open the door and slipped in, shutting the door softly behind her.

He was just sitting down on the corner of the bed, across from his perch was a little loveseat. She started towards it. Across the street on the building roof, she could see the familiar suit of Nightwing, their baby sitter for the evening.

His masked eyes gleamed white in the low light. She couldn’t tell when he blinked. She hadn’t really taken that in at all on their other visits. Her mask, as well as Adrien’s, left the eyes open. It felt different here in Gotham. The vigilantes far more concealed and secretive than any of the Miraculous holders. Even Hawkmoth had proper eyeholes in his suit. What was the white piece for? Eye protection? Mystery? Hiding features? She was dwelling on this far too long. They had been sitting in silence too long. He’s going to think she didn’t want to talk to hi-

He cleared his throat.

“You got my note.”

She nodded.

“You knew to leave one.”

He nodded.

“How did you figure it out?”

_‘Okay! Absolutely no pretense! That’s fine. I can work with that.’_

He didn’t seem suspicious. Or surprised. Just sort of.. interested. So she spoke.

“My class took a tour on our first day here at Wayne Enterprises,” she gestured out the window.

He knew this.

“Our tour was led by Monsieur Richard Grayson...”

She paused, looking for any sign of recognition or alarm in his expression as he resisted the sudden powerful urge to glare out the window. His face betrayed nothing of the sort and Marinette tried to stop her shoulders from falling ever so slightly. He was difficult to read, so she couldn’t stop herself from speeding up, feeling more than a little bit nervous about his final reaction.

“He got a phone call before we even started the tour. It was his brother... who he called Baby Bird...”

She paused again, but not long enough to give him a chance to interject, went on.

“Two weeks ago, on my birthday, when we switched, the first thing Nightwing said to me, though he thought he was talking to you, was _‘come on Baby Bird, I thought you wanted a rematch’_... is that a common nickname in Gotham?”

*buffering* _‘Seriously?! That was actually all it took to give it away?’_

“It is, indeed, _not_ a common nickname in Gotham. Or presumably anywhere.”

Damian just stared at his soulmate after that, who was looking quite anxious, as if waiting for him to blow up at her for figuring him out... over a nickname. A nickname.

“Clever,” he whispered.

Of all the things that could have given him away, including Jon acting as an atrociously obvious go-between, it was that abhorrent nickname he never could get Grayson to drop. He was jarred out of his thoughts by his soulmate dropping her face into her hands with a surprisingly loud smack. He instinctively reached out to see if she was hurt.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to figure it out, it just happened.”

He might have smiled in a different situation but instead he just stood and walked the few steps over to where she was seated and sat lightly next to her. He decided to try his hand at comforting her.

“I would have had to tell you eventually anyway.”

Her face remained hidden in her hands, but one blue eye could be seen through her fingers, blinking at his sudden closeness.

“So, you’re not angry?”

He shook his head. “It is not your fault. If anything it is Grayson’s.”

She bumped her shoulder into his lightly, lifting her head finally.

“Don’t blame him!”

“Okay, I won’t. So, it is nobody’s fault.”

They fell into a semi-comfortable silence. The weight of the discussion they just had still weighing slightly on them, but they were both partially relieved. Marinette because he wasn’t angry at her for it, and would still be willing to see her after this. Damian because it felt strangely nice to be... open? She didn’t know every little thing about him (and hopefully would never have to) but still. One big secret was out of the way. One less thing to worry about later.

It was Marinette who finally spoke.

“So, does this mean I can sit with you at lunch?”

He froze, trying to think out how that would work. It would seem strange if they were suddenly acting like they knew each other after several days of basically no interaction. Her classmates would certainly find that suspect.

His mouth proceeded without his brain.

“Yes.”

Her smile was bright as the sun right there in that dimly lit room before dropping to a much more serious expression that sought to get down to business.

“Okay. We will have to find a way how to make it seem like we haven’t already met. I’ve been trying to work it out but I can’t seem to think of any way of doing that without you speaking to Alya, Adrien, or Nino directly.”

He was certainly glad she had already put some though into it, though it was odd to have a peer that was even a half a step ahead of him. Raising an eyebrow that she couldn’t see, he waited for her to continue.

“You would have to go up to one of them and say you recognize them. They should be able to just put it together and introduce us right away. You could always bring up the date you remember them from if they don’t get it right away, but I have confidence that they won’t need any extra prompting. Of course, we still need to explain away why you waited all week before you said anything.”

She hummed softly, staring at the wall behind him. He considered that for a moment.

“Perhaps because I felt it would have been inappropriate timing after having disproven Lila Rossi’s claim?”

“Ohh, that’s perfect. Are you a good actor?”

Damian straightened up slightly.

“I would say I am fairly proficient.”

Biting back a small laugh, Marinette went on.

“So, who are you going to talk to?”

“Well, Alya is in my class, if you’d recall,” he reminded her.

“Right! Right. Ah..”

He looked at her troubled face.

“What?”

She looked up at him, a touch guilty.

“She’s definitely gonna freak out. I almost guarantee she’ll make a scene. She can be very eccentric when she’s excited about something.”

_‘If I’ve managed to survive my family this long-’_

“It’s almost certainly nothing I cannot handle.”

 _‘Oh! Speaking of handle-’_ Marinette’s brain redirected her thought train back to earlier in the afternoon.

"So, what was with the escort home? Not that I didn’t appreciate it, of course! I was just surprised to see you and-"

He lifted a hand slightly, cutting her off before she could fully ramble for the second time that night.

"We received word last night that there was an empty cell in Arkham. The officials are uncertain who is missing as of yet as all seem to be accounted for. I followed you as a precaution to ensure that you didn't find any trouble on the way back."

Marinette stuck out her lip in a mock pout at that, waiting to fire back a _'I can take care of myself just fine.'_

_'Oh wait but he doesn’t know that. Shoot.'_

She said it anyway.

Expression still in it's eternal frown, he scoffed. Not maliciously. More like incredulously.

"Nightwing is still upset you managed to best him as me."

Marinette sputtered.

“WHAT?!”

Damian just nodded back.

“Wants a rematch, he says.”

They bantered back and forth for a bit just like that, Marinette deflecting away the idea of sparring again with _any_ of the Gotham vigilantes... at least as a civilian. But it was late. In the eyes of the public, tomorrow would be their first meeting. They should be well rested for it.

“So, I’ll see you at lunch tomorrow?”

He nodded his affirmative before approaching the window. He waited a moment for the door to close behind her before he grappled across the gap where an unsuspecting Nightwing was about to be tackled.


	31. The Public Perception

It was a stressful morning, trying to sit still in his seat while also anxiously waiting  and also trying not to look over at the trio of French students seated to the side of the classroom. The girl he had called out had been rather quiet the past few days, seemingly trying to keep a low profile. That made sense. It’s not every day a billionaire's son calls you out in front of all your friends. Marinette’s ‘bestie’ (her word not his) seemed the most upset by the girl’s lies and most determined to ignore her the rest of the trip. Which was fine. That created a higher possibility that Cesaire would walk alone to lunch and he could catch her in front of less people. As excited (he decided there was simply no better word for it than that) as he was, he couldn’t help the touch of dread that pooled in his gut after his soulmate said this was the one friend most likely to make a scene. Something he really did not want to happen in front of his peers. Not that he cared about their opinions of him, of course. He just... didn’t want her to make a scene.

Mr. Benson concluded his lesson just in time for the lunch bell to ring, his regular students already packed up. They all knew the secret art of slowly putting their things away one object at a time over the last five minutes of class so as not to attract the teacher’s attention.

He whispered to Jon as the classed zipped out the door to lunch.

“Change of seating arrangements today. I’ll meet you there.”

He didn’t need to look over at his friend to know his expression was just “!!”. He focused instead on walking towards Marinette’s classmates. Lila gave him a painful side eye before scurrying out the door and down the hall. Perfect. If only the tall one would walk away now. Kim stood by, waiting for Alya. Damian had to give a little wave to get her attention and she looked up from her bag to him, brow quirked, waiting for him to speak. The little spark of recognition in her eyes did nothing to change her  expectant expression though.

He remembered what he and Marinette had talked about the night before. How he would say he recognized her from that day over two weeks ago, say he felt it would have been inappropriate timing after confronting her other classmate and let her jump to conclusions from there. The Marinette that still apparently held onto the speaking part of his brain instead said,

“You have a friend.”

She blanched. “I have quite a few friends.”

A rather solid answer if he did say so himself. But that’s not the point.

“Allow me to start again. What I meant to say was, I think I may know your friend. I don’t think I caught her name a few weeks ago, but I believe it was her birthday. You, the blond boy, and Nino, was it?”

In the beat of silence that followed, Alya narrowed her eyes at the rich boy in front of her. She dismissed a still waiting Kim with a wave of her hand and shifted her weight to her left foot. Hand on her hips, she willed him to keep speaking.

“I can only assume you are wondering why I am bringing this up several days after having met you. Well, after having some  fairly harsh words with Miss Rossi, I felt it wouldn’t be my place to approach your group again so soon.”

He waited a moment. Her brain caught up with the incredibly formal  French pouring from his mouth.

Realization hit her like a brick to the face and her  victorious smile was a tad concerning.

“Well, you certainly don’t have blue eyes.”

He pulled a face.

“What?”

Instead of answering him, she grabbed her stuff and his wrist and started going as fast as she dared down the crowded school hallway. To his credit, even though he really would have liked to, he did not fling her arm away. He uncharacteristically allowed himself to be dragged towards Marinette’s class.

“Holy shit.” a voice said from somewhere along the row of lockers. The students parted like the Red Sea at the sight of The Damian Wayne being pulled down the hall by one of the French contest winners.

The two of them were almost stopped by the outflow of students from the classroom Alya was now trying to push her way into. Managing to squeeze through (quite undignified), Alya zeroed in on a painfully nonchalant Marinette, who  definitely was not expecting this at all, no sir.

“Girl! Guess what!”

“Hmm?”

Pulling Damian to the forefront, she took a step back. She was especially excited because she had been particularly proud of Marinette’s outfit choice that day, with the blush pink top and swishy skirt  _ (hey I’m  _ _ gonna _ _ let  _ _ yall _ _ use your imagination here because I put on jeans for the first time in like three weeks today! So needless to  _ _ say _ __ _ im _ _ not really a fashion person lol).  _ It was just the right amount of  _ Marinette. _

The girl in question looked up at the boy her friend had brought to her (yes just for her!). And they both stopped dead in their tracks, Damian still standing up slightly on his toes after being dragged with a surprising amount of force down the hall. Breathe in. Breathe out.

It was warm. Looking at each other in the eyes again. Unhindered by mask or a rush to get out the door. It was welcoming. It was understanding. It was  _ home _ .

Damian’s brow furrowed at the feeling in his chest. Marinette just... smiled. Like she knew what he was thinking. He could almost ignore Cesaire’s expectant expression to his right.

Alya’s eyes darted back and forth between the two faces, waiting for one of them to make a move. To say something. Anything. She could remember all those times her best friend had frozen simply at the sight of Sunshine Boy Adrien Agreste, so after a few more seconds of just staring, she reached out and lightly poked Marinette’s arm.

_ ‘Introduce yourself,’ _ she silently urged.

“I’m Damian... Wayne.”

Marinette smiled wider.

“I know.”

Alya’s eyebrows jumped to her hairline. But Damian nodded and waited for her to go on.

“My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Hesitating for just a second, Damian stuck out his hand to shake, very prominently remembering how Marinette  _ actually _ greeted him for the first time. Eyes sparkling with  humour , she did not hug him again but shook his offered hand instead. So, with that, Alya spun around, linked her arms with a bewildered Mylene and a stunned Nino, and marched out the classroom door.

All the Gotham High students had  funnelled out in a rush when they saw Damian come in, so the two were left with just the teacher, who was looking at them curiously.

“Did Alya give you the third-degree?” Marinette asked, relaxing a bit.

“Ah, surprisingly no. She simply declared that my eyes were not blue and proceeded to drag me down the hallway.”

She winced.

“Sorry about that.”

He lifted his hands dismissively.

“I don’t have blue eyes?” he questioned, still a bit confused.

“Ah, well, strictly speaking that was all I knew about you. Strictly speaking.”

He nodded. That made sense.

Marinette  continued on .

“So, lunch?”

They could both feel the many sets of eyes watching them as they set off down the hall together. Damian was certain, though they most likely would steer clear of him, that Marinette would be bombarded with questions when everyone returned to their classes.

On the way through the cafeteria doors, he spotted Jon leaning against the wall. From next to  Marinette, he caught his attention. Jon locked onto Marinette and had to restrain himself from jumping through the ceiling with glee. He rushed over (at normal people fast speed) and started walking alongside them. She nodded to the new addition as he joined them through the lunch line. She still did not know his name.

When Marinette, food in hand, began walking towards her usual table, Damian internally cringed. This had been something they had mentioned briefly the night  before, but he had been holding onto the hope that she’d change her mind.

“It’ll be easier if you just come on and meet them right away. Or else they might try to each individually try to track you down themselves.”

She had laughed. Damian had not. While she could  definitely sense his discomfort about it, she wasn’t changing her stance on it.

“At least one time. Sit with us.”

He could recall the way his shoulders had slumped and behind his Robin mask his eyes had shut in defeat. That is why he followed her to her table now, Jon confusedly following behind him, but excited nonetheless.

He could feel the beaming faces of the three of Marinette’s friends already in the know looking directly at him, which means Alya certainly updated the boys of this advance in the plan. Nino was no longer  confused and Adrien was simply ecstatic.

“Wait, don’t they speak just French?” Jon whispered to him as they got closer to the table.

Marinette heard that and answered for him.

“They all should have the basics down. ‘Hello’s, goodbye’s, how are  you’s ’. Don’t talk too fast and you’ll be fine.”

And it was fine. While the over-enthusiastic greetings  was certainly something Damian would have to get used to, it wasn’t pulling teeth. Up until the rest of the class (sans one who was pretending not to care) all converged on the  three square feet of space he and Marinette occupied to introduce themselves and ask questions. She tried to field most of them away from him but some of them he had to answer.

He didn’t know them hardly at all. And he shouldn’t care even the slightest bit. But he wanted to make a fair impression on the people his soulmate cared about. So, he tried. And she appreciated it.

Jon also seemed to be having a good time, making a bit of conversation, helped by horribly botched Google translations.

As to whether or not his own classmates began slinging questions at the girl as soon as he was out of sight, he’d have to ask her that later tonight. Same place.

_ Back at the hotel: _

“ So.. ” Alya started.

Marinette looked at her curiously.

“Andre was right.”

She slammed her sketchbook down on the bed and leaned forward with excitement.

“That’s exactly what I thought!”


	32. The Not-So Public Perception

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it was writing this chapter that i realized i'd accidentally invented a day of the week. my bad.

Damian had been waiting quite formally by a sleek black car parked just in front of the bus that would take them back to the hotel. In his hands he held a small slip of paper. When Marinette saw him, she deviated from the straight shot from the school entrance to the bus to go and stand by him. He held out the little piece of paper to her. When she unfolded it, there was a ten-digit number written inside in neat black ink.

“I know that we had not discussed this,” he began. “But I feel it would be most wise to have contact with each other.”

_‘Oh.’_

She was tempted to clap her hand to her forehead in realization. Phone numbers. Of course.

“Great!” she finally answered. “I’ll text you so you can have my number too.”

She saw him smile a little bit. She did not see the much older man sitting inside the car smile too. Neither of them quite knew what the protocol for a goodbye was yet. They still had to figure that out. With Marinette it was easy to just hug most of her friends on their way out the door. But with Damian, he seemed more that fine with just a nod of the head. She shifted from foot to foot, trying not to let her awkwardness spill out into the air. Silently, after a good long moment of consideration, they met in the middle and shook hands for the second time that day.

“Marinette!” Mlle. Bustier called from the bus door.

“I’ll text you,’ she said again, before hurrying to get on the coach.

In a rush, she plopped down next to Adrien, across the aisle from Alya and Nino. All her friends were smiling, so she knew they had seen her talking to Damian.

“Girl, that had better be a phone number in your hand.”

Marinette laughed. “It is.”

***

First things first when they all got back to the hotel, Alya, as much as she wanted to know everything right away, she let her best friend have a few minutes to sit in silence to just take it the overwhelming day. After having muscled through the Gotham student’s questions all day long, Alya knew Marinette at least deserved a few minutes of quiet. The deep inhale let her know Mari was ready to say something. And of course, Alya asked questions too. What was her first impression of Damian (other than that thing with Lila)? What did she think of him being a _billionaire_? Marinette’s face flushed at that one. She hadn’t considered that yet. Had she called and told her parents about it yet?

“Oh! I should probably do that, right?”

Alya sighed. “You should also text him.”

Marinette yanked her phone out of her bag.

“I guess it’s a good thing we sprung for the temporary international plan, huh?”

For the next twenty minutes after sending Damian a quick text, Marinette was again recounting all the details of the day's events for her parents. They had been half expecting it after Marinette’s sixteenth birthday, but still it was incredibly exciting.

Getting off the phone with her parents aside, the girls talked all the way up until dinner, where she would recount the details _for the third time_ for, at the very least, Adrien and Nino.

***

Night had fallen over Gotham and the people who thrived in the day were retreating to their homes. The nighttime people, however, were just starting to show their faces. Or masks... whatever.

Alya gasped.

“Marinette! Oh. My. God! Look look look!” she screeched, tapping her best friend’s arm repeatedly.

“What?!” Marinette asked, bewildered.

She didn’t have to inquire any further, following the direction of Alya’s cell phone camera, desperately trying to focus on the vigilante who was “oh so casually” standing on the roof across the street. Once she got sufficiently blurry pictures, she bounded over to the window and flung it open, then proceeding to lean out of said window, trying to get a better shot.

“Alya!” Marinette hissed, as she clawed at her friend’s shirt. “Self preservation!”

It was Batman, probably checking in on his youngest protégé, hiding on some nearby rooftop (not that Alya knew that). He did not appear to notice the teenager trying to fall out of a fifteenth story window, instead focusing on grappling to the next higher roof.

But as he had stood there, Marinette’s real thought process had been drowned out just barely by the ongoing panic of Alya once again risking her life for a scoop. As soon as both of her feet were back on the ground, though... it hit her, gripping her heart in a vice. She knew exactly who that was. Exactly.

_‘Oh shit.’_

She hadn’t had time to think about the implications. What about the implications??

The stakes she faced back in Paris just rose astronomically. Not only was she protecting Chat’s secret identity along with hers, the ENTIRE TEAM OF GOTHAM’S VIGILANTES JUST GOT SLAPPED ON TOP. If she ever got akumatized it would be an absolute cat-tasrophy.

_‘Now is not the time to pun!’_

Not to mention if any of them ever ventured into Paris while Hawkmoth was still at large... she’d probably have to talk to Damian about this. Probably. Definitely.

Mentally, she was beating back her panic attack with a stick because it simply wasn’t something she could explain to Alya at the moment. Deep breath in. Breathe out. 

At least the pictures Alya got weren’t too bad. She had a good camera.

The two spent the rest of the evening to their own devices. Marinette steadfastly working on finishing the sewing of her gala dress, and Alya crafting a masterful blog post, probably about the vigilantes (to be posted when they returned home). They chatted back and forth like normal, Marinette’s panic having settled under her skin. Except now that Alya wasn’t looking at her, she was wearing her panic like a sweater.

Alya safely sound asleep a few hours later, Marinette did her usual sneaking around, this time aided by the phone in her pocket. It was a much more effective means of communication than “breaking and entering” and “leaving cryptic messages and hoping the other understood”. The same room was open, so she was able to head right over, Tikki tucked away again.

Settled in the same places as the night before, Robin cleared his throat.

“So... how was the rest of your day?” he asked, curious as to his classmate’s behavior when he wasn’t there.

But she was on edge if the tapping of her fingers had anything to show.

“It wasn’t so bad. I lived didn’t I?”

Damian snorted.

“They didn’t ask you too many questions about me?”

She looked a little bit guilty at that.

“I have to admit, after the first few, I started pretending that I couldn’t speak English that well. So, they kind of gave up?”

Damian tried not to laugh. He really did.

“Don’t laugh! I feel bad! They were only curious,” Marinette pouted.

Damian didn’t have enough time to drum up a response when a slight tapping sounded from the window. Wasn't a bird. Was a bat.

“What?” Marinette heard Robin say under his breath as he got up to open the window.

“May I come in?”

 _‘Oh, kwamii, there is no way that’s his real voice.’_

Her soulmate stepped to the side and Batman easily stepped through. It seemed he had been out for an early patrol earlier. Neither of them had been expecting the visit, if the looks on their faces were any indication.

“Fa-… Batman, what are you doing here?”

Batman stood tall in the already dark room.

“I have heard that Miss. Dupain-Cheng has been filled in on the family business. I would like to hear this from the source.”

Cut straight to the chase. The tension already in Marinette’s shoulders tripled when he looked her way. He didn’t seem angry about the situation, but he was incredibly hard to read. Even Robin was easier to see through.

Despite her nerves, she still saw the logic behind the situation. It made perfect sense to her that Batman would feel the need to meet the person who could ruin your life with one word to the press. If she were in a similar situation as Ladybug, she would want to meet all the players in the game asap.

During her pondering, Damian had moved to her side and rested his hand on her shoulder, silently aligning himself with her. She smiled so warmly at her soulmate, he was certain he would melt if not for his training.

And Batman noticed. He had to bite back a smile of his own at his son’s behavior.

***

Marinette has done nothing but tell the same stories all day long. Three times she had to retell the meeting Damian story. Now she had to retell the details of how she figured out his secret identity. Starting with the switching bodies while he was in the Batcave, to going on a tour to Wayne Enterprises, getting Dick’s name, connecting the dots, dropping hints during the day to his civilian identity and confirming that he got the message that night. All aptly staged coincidences. Eventually, they moved on to talking about the situation in Paris. She had gathered that the news didn’t really extend past France after her talk with Damian the other night.

Now was her chance to tell them her concerns.

“So, when Hawkmoth possesses a person, he can essentially see into their mind.”

Both of the vigilantes froze. 

“So, if I were ever to be akumatized, I don’t know if he would be able to see your identities as well...”

The ‘as well’ in her statement went mostly unnoticed. Batman stalled for a second longer. A concerning fact indeed.

Batman considered her fears. It was a tough situation to be put in for sure, but he had to accept that there was little he could do to help. It really was out of their hands.

“How long did you say this ‘Hawkmoth’ has been active?”

Question.

“About three years.”

He nodded slowly.

“And you have not yet been akumatized.”

Fact.

“I suppose the only course of action is to just keep doing whatever it is you’re doing.”

It wasn’t as if she had been expecting some real profound advice from the man who actively chose to dress like a bat and spend his nights punching the superstitious and cowardly lot in the face. That would be ridiculous.

She sighed deeply.

**What fucking day of the week is it (went back and read my whole fic and it turns out its goddamn Friday2 fuck)**

Batman took his leave shortly after that, expressing a welcome to her as well as a goodnight to the both of them.

A beat of silence.

“So, tomorrow we are touring the the Garden’s. Is Richard going to come with us on that trip or has he just made the arrangements?”

“He’s going with your class. Speaking of... we won’t be in school so it would be difficult to meet other than late at night for the next two days...”

He halted for a minute as he gauged her reaction to that statement. She seemed rather disappointed at the thought, sending a small thrill through his chest.

“I do not have any previous plans for the day. Perhaps I could accompany you?”

Oh, her face lit up.

“That would be great!”

**Author's Note:**

> This story is still ongoing! I just cant update as consistently as id like to!!


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